


Demon Dealings

by mantisbelle



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe, Chorus (Red vs. Blue), Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Demonic Possession, Demons, Dubious Consent, Felix | Isaac Gates Being a Dick, M/M, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2019-11-23 13:21:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 57,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18152393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mantisbelle/pseuds/mantisbelle
Summary: After the goddamn weird explanation of what it was, the heavy folder dropped down onto the desk with a resounding thud.Felix reached out and placed a hand on top of the file before he dragged it over toward him. He stared down at it and the scribbled on label that the science division pirate that had compiled its contents had left. “Demons?” He read the label aloud before he stared at the dumb bastard that had had the honor of bringing the nonsense to him.Fucking space pirates, never knew what they were actually doing. Always bringing him and Locus crazy shit that nobody wanted to deal with.It was one of those cases where Felix was reminded, quite loudly, that he was way too highly paid for this shit.





	1. Who The Fuck Is Darnoldson?

**Author's Note:**

> Tags are there for a reason. More will be added as the story gets published. 
> 
> Tagged dubious consent and rape/noncon due to characters engaging under false pretenses. 
> 
> There will be chapter warnings when the story gets to those chapters. 
> 
> Written to fill a prompt from a friend.

After the  _ goddamn weird  _ explanation of what it was and what it contained, the heavy folder dropped down onto the desk with a resounding  _ thud. _

Felix reached out and placed a hand on top of the file before he dragged it over toward him. He stared down at it and the scribbled on label that the science division pirate that had compiled its contents had left. “Demons?” He read the label aloud before he  _ stared _ at the dumb bastard that had had the honor of bringing the nonsense to him.

Fucking space pirates, never knew what they were actually doing. Always bringing him and Locus crazy shit that nobody wanted to deal with. 

It was one of those cases where Felix was reminded, quite loudly, that he was way too highly paid for this shit. 

“Yes, sir—” The pirate answered him nervously, standing stiff-backed and in an imperfect imitation of  _ at attention _ . His name might have been Darnold. Davidson. Something like that. Felix had never really been in the habit of learning the names of the pirates when they were so damn disposable anyways. 

“Look, Darnoldson,” Felix began, since he figured that he was  _ probably  _ going to be close enough to the pirate’s name that he might actually manage to get it right. “I’m pretty sure that you know that you’re sounding completely insane.” He leaned back in his seat and propped his feet up on the desk. “Right?”   


“Right. But it’s Reynolds, sir.” The pirate corrected him, nearly shaking in his armor. Felix felt a spike of smug satisfaction over the use of the title, though. Authority was  _ fucking fantastic _ to have and a pain in the ass to obey. “Jordan Reynolds. I’ve been working on this project for four years.  And I  _ know  _ that it sounds crazy. We double checked the translations about fifteen times just to be sure. Even with all of our translators and some off-planet contacts, we couldn’t get any other translation to the text. It’s real.” 

Felix nodded along and opened up the file for the first time. Inside there were several photographs of alien texts engraved in the walls of one of the temples. Buried underneath them were stacks of paperwork and written reports which Felix knew Locus might read eventually but he didn’t really intend on reading himself. He ignored them in favor of the photographs. He picked up the first one he could and flipped it over to read the inscription that had been scrawled on the back. 

> _ Pictured: Ancient Sanghieli Text found at the Temple of [REDACTED] on the planet [REDACTED]. Reads: “Bringing Eternal NIght upon the land.” Appears to be the third segment of seven. Carvings were unable to be dated. _

Felix frowned at the redacted text. He was practically in charge of the whole thing and he was still being treated like a fucking private.  _ “ _ Which temple was this?”

“The Temple of Night, sir.” Darnoldson answered him. 

Felix’s frown only deepened. “I thought the Temple of Night was meant to control the solar cycle.” He dropped the photo down onto the officer’s desk that he’d commandeered when they’d captured the Tartarus. “Because that was what  _ makes sense. _ ”

“That’s what we thought too!” Darnoldson protested. “But it just  _ isn’t _ that way. There’s something in there, the place is… spooky. Gave Jabari and Belletete quite a scare. Neither of them have said anything for days. And we haven’t been able to get a full team together to go back out for further research. Nobody wants to go, sir.” 

Okay, and that  _ was  _ pretty weird, Felix had to admit. “Right.” He closed the folder once more. He’d look into it more later if he got bored. “Look, I’ll look at this, but I’m pretty sure it’s all going to be a huge waste of of my fucking time.” 

“Right, sir.” Darnoldson replied. “If there's anything you need—”

“Get the fuck out of my office, Darnoldson.”    


The imperfect attention wavered. Darnoldson snapped him a sloppy salute and began on his way toward the door. He made it all of two steps before he stopped and looked back at Felix over his shoulder. “It’s  _ Reynolds,  _ sir.” 

“Don’t care!” Felix shouted back at the pirate, reaching out for the button on his desk that would close the office door and lock it the second that Darnoldson was gone. 

When he got out of this war shit, Felix promised himself, he was getting a desk like the one he was at. A proper rich man’s desk.

Solid fucking mahogany.

But first, he had work to do. 

Felix looked back at the folder. It was crazy. It  _ sounded _ crazy. 

But maybe, he thought as he flipped the folder back open. It was worth a shot. Just on the off chance that Darnoldson  _ wasn’t _ completely full of shit. 

Which he totally was.

* * *

 

Most of the day that passed, save for the  _ fucking weird _ meeting in his commandeered office had been normal. Normal enough that there was nothing of any interest to report aside from the weird meeting. The contacts they had planetside were quiet aside from the usual daily check in to make sure they weren’t compromised. Locus was still a moody asshole. The Reds and Blues were still idiots. 

Even in the middle of the shitshow that was his goddamn life, the universe kept on turning. 

Only problem was that “quiet” and “uneventful” got really fucking boring after a while.

Which was how he ended up outside of Locus’ room on the Tartarus at odd hours of the night.  

Felix knocked on his partner’s door at quarter to eleven, mostly because he knew that he was guaranteed to actually be able to get a hold of him if he went at that late of a time. Asshole was probably getting ready for bed. Locus  _ always  _ returned to his room before midnight. Something about keeping a responsible sleep schedule. Felix didn’t particularly see the appeal. 

Locus didn’t answer him. Felix rolled his eyes, and knocked again, this time a bit louder. 

“Asshole!” Felix called for him. “Open the fuck up. I want to talk to you.” 

“ _ What— _ ” Locus’ voice answered him, followed by the sound of him setting something down on the desk inside of the room that he’d taken. It sounded metallic. “Could you _ possibly _ want?”

Felix smirked. “One of the idiots brought me some interesting intel. I wanted to talk about it.” 

“Fine.” Locus said, and the door opened up. 

Inside, Locus was sitting at the desk with his rifle disassembled. 

Felix decided to just make himself at home on his partner’s bed, where he made sure to wipe his feet off on the sheets and drop the folder onto his pillow. Locus didn’t even bother looking over at him, the asshole. 

“Tell me.”

Felix opened up the folder. He’d gone through some of the papers inside and the photographs, but it hadn’t taken him long to get bored with it. After all, he got a good gist for what was going on. . “Some of the dumbass pirates think that they found a way to summon a demon.” He said, waving one of the photographs in Locus’ direction. “Pretty wild, huh?"

Locus glanced over at him, giving the photograph only a cursory glance. “ _ That  _ seems unlikely.” 

“Let me guess—” Felix dropped onto his back, much more comfortable. The fact that he was rumpling Locus’ perfectly military bed in the process didn’t matter. For a moment, Felix almost considered short sheeting it just the mess with his partner. “Demons aren’t real?”

“Even if they were.” Locus sighed, checking his scope and re-checking it over. “What use would one even be?”

“Well, the ancient Chorusans put one in one of their temples.” Felix stretched. Locus’ bed was somehow more comfortable than his own.  “Apparently. So that they can summon it for an upgrade in firepower. Or something. These ancient texts  _ really _ aren’t very clear about this shit, you know?” 

Locus blinked, and Felix had to wonder whether or not he’d actually managed to catch his partner’s attention. He smirked. “I’m just saying, if it’s right, might be worth looking into.” 

“And when,” Locus asked, “would you plan to do that, exactly?”

“Tomorrow.” Felix stretched out. “If you don’t mind. I mean, I know we don’t have anything planned, you always want me gone, and I can get some shit done while you do whatever it is that you do when you have downtime.” 

“We are in an active war zone.” Locus replied, apparently grumpier than usual. “There’s no such thing as  _ downtime.  _ We can’t afford it.” 

“And yet neither of us are doing anything right now.” Felix prodded. “Just let me take a Mongoose, and I’ll look into it. If it turns out to be nothing, we call it a waste of fuel and move on. If I find something, we might get help.” 

Locus turned his head and for the first time since Felix had come in he  _ really _ looked at him. Like he was doing his best to size Felix up. “This  _ will  _ be a waste of time.” 

“And yet I’m sure you’d love the chance to get away from me for a day.” 

Locus didn’t respond. The asshole. No response was the same was a yes. Felix knew that after almost two decades of working with him. 

Felix stretched. “You know that you can’t stop me.”   


“I know.” 

Felix smirked at his partner. “Then it’s settled. I’m going out, and you get to stay here and do whatever shit you usually do.”

Locus said nothing, which Felix knew was as good as a concession.

He paused for a moment, one of the odd things from earlier coming to mind. He looked over at Locus, since he had a chance of getting some sort of answer out of him.

“Hey, Locs, do we have a guy named Darnoldson?”

Locus set the scope that he’d been working on fixing down. “We’ve never had anyone by that name.”

Felix paused. “Right.” He let out a breath. “Could have sworn we did. What about Reynolds?”

Locus hesitated. “Be more specific.”

“Jordan Reynolds.” Felix said. “Science division, apparently. He said he was on assignment at the temple they found all of this demon shit at. Apparently the asshole’s worked for us for years.”

Locus’ face screwed up, like he was deep in thought. “I’d have to check.” He admitted a moment later. 

Felix couldn’t remember a time when Locus had  _ ever _ needed to check to be sure that something was correct when it came to their troops. 

That Reynolds guy had been fishy. 

And why the  _ fuck _ couldn’t he get the name “ _ Darnoldson _ ” out of his head?


	2. Stop Breathing Down My Neck, You Fucking Weirdo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix goes to the Temple of Night.

So even though working for Hargrove sucked, and living on the Tartarus sucked, and the beds sucked, and the food sucked even worse, there were _some_ small perks to the arrangement.

One, the pirates were so afraid of him and Locus that they didn’t try to bother either of them, which led to Felix being able to _actually_ relax when they had a few minutes of downtime.

Two, he got the power to do basically whatever he wanted as long as he didn’t break too many people on the way.

And three, nobody questioned shit when the time came that he needed something.

For that reason, Felix was able to bum his way down to Chorus on a Pelican that had been meaning to do a quick supply drop to one of their many bases. He hopped off of the ship, went straight into the goddamn pathetic excuse for a vehicle bay, and requisitioned himself a Mongoose to get him around. No need for a full Warthog when it was just him, and the Mongoose was more fun anyways.

For just a brief moment after he first straddled the Mongoose, Felix considered calling Locus and giving confirmation that he was planetside and on his way to the Temple as promised. He’d only seen his partner for a few passing moments that morning. There hadn’t even been time for a debriefing ( _and not the fun kind either)_ before he’d had to leave.

But at the same time… he _knew_ Locus. He knew that his partner could _easily_ handle all of the boring shit that he always ended up handling anyways because Felix just didn’t have the patience for it. Felix hadn’t done a single supply inventory on day in his life and he wasn’t about to go breaking that streak. Locus was the one that was good at the everyday running of their forces. Locus was the one that was good with contingencies and boring technical work. _Locus_ was the one technically outranking him for a reason, Felix figured.

Not that it actually _mattered_. He had Locus wrapped around his little finger. Always had.

Besides, he didn’t want to be there when they inevitably got called by Hargrove to get yelled at for only the eight millionth time. Apparently _that_ was becoming a new daily ritual for them, and it was a fucking shitty one at that.

Asshole just didn’t get the bullshit that they were dealing with.

But as long as Felix was off ship, he didn’t have to worry about Hargrove. He had more interesting shit to do, starting with debunking the _really fucking stupid_ demon nonsense. Once he found the so-called Temple of Night at least. At least the science idiots had managed to give coordinates that weren’t complete garbage like the rest of their report.

According to all of the information that he'd been given though, he had a little bit of traveling to do. Firstly, because he had to get outside of an old Chorusan town that had been _mostly_ leveled at the beginning of the war— before he or Locus had first landed there. It had gotten raided in what Felix was _pretty_ sure had to do with the local industry, which had been centered on canning vegetables or something equally mundane. After that the people that had been living there had mostly cleared out for the sakes of their own skins.

To Felix’s knowledge, they’d gone to the rebel side of the war. Figured. If he had to guess, most of the people that had once lived in the ruined city of Legato were dead. Maybe one or two were still standing if they had managed to get lucky.

Not that it would matter that much soon.

He rolled into Legato at twelve minutes before noon, which was good because it meant that he was making good time. With any luck, he’d be done at the Temple before three, and he'd be back on the Tartarus with Locus in time for dinner (which had been 8:00 pm sharp ever since Locus had been in a stable enough place after the war that he could plan when his meals would be). Not that dinner would be anything worth eating since it would always be shitty fucking rations anyways.

The first thing Felix would do once he was done with Chorus was he was going to get a real meal that didn’t come vacuum sealed.

Real goddamn steak. Potatoes that hadn’t been processed to hell. Gravy made from all of the drippings, and those beans that had been native to his home planet he never managed to find anywhere else. If he had his way, he’d even get something for dessert. Cake, probably. He hadn’t had cake in _years._ The shit the rebels had when they were forcing a birthday party was far from the real thing. More of a barely digestible lump than anything else.

The thoughts made Felix’s stomach grumble unhappily. He'd skipped breakfast, since breakfast would have just been one of the packets of Locus’ high calorie MREs meant for long deployments in the field. Why Locus insisted on them having them, Felix didn’t fucking understand. He hated eating them just as much as Felix did, but still he made sure they had them.

Probably some paranoid part in the back of his brain that wasn’t able to grasp that they weren’t going to starve in the field again. If Felix had to guess.

When he arrived, Legato was blessedly empty. It gave him a chance to stop into one of the old rest stops and find a map that could get him to the Temple of Night a little more easily. All he had to do, it seemed, was go through some terrain which had gotten overgrown over the years which he _seriously_ doubted the idiot pirates had ever bothered to clear to make things easier to get to.

He _really_ didn’t know why they still were planning on paying them. They weren’t worth the loss in his or Locus’ paychecks.

He found that there was nothing at the store that was worth looting, which was really a damn shame. Unsatisfied and hungry, Felix climbed back onto his Mongoose and headed out of Legato for the Temple itself.

The Temple of Night first showed itself when Felix was thirty minutes west of Legato, its red spire peeking out over the trees as if in welcoming. Felix slowed his Mongoose for just a few seconds, long enough that he could take in the sight before he sped forward along the barely maintained path. There was something about the towering structure that seemed… wrong. More wrong than the rest of the Temples on the planet were.

Fifteen minutes later, Felix was parking his Mongoose at the end of the usable road. From there, Felix trekked in on foot.

The Temple of Night stood in the middle of a grove, surrounded on all sides by trees aside from the path that Felix had just come in from. Even then, the rock formations in the area seemed rather strange on their own. Definitely not shit that Felix had seen anywhere else, at least.

Felix stood outside of the Temple and cast a glance around. There was no sign of enemies there. No sign of pirates there either, yet another thing that told him that everything they’d told him was going to turn out to be absolute, complete bullshit. Bullshit he wouldn’t let Locus even think about paying them for.

Locating the entrance took a few minutes. Once he found it, tucked in at the side with yet another one of those strange rock formations. The rocks looked like there had once been something cut into them, but as they were Felix couldn’t make out what it would have been. Even if he could have, he figured it would have only turned out to be some more alien language bullshit.

_Years_ of fighting the fuckers and Felix had barely learned how to read any of it. He mostly just knew a few words by sight, and a couple of more choice pieces of vocabulary because he just heard it so much. That was the thing about firefights. _Everyone_ ended up with a dirty mouth in a firefight.

Aside from Locus. Weird asshole.

But Locus’ weird penchant for never swearing ever aside, Felix had work to do.

Felix lingered by the door and He let his hand brush over one of the faded carvings, but felt nearly nothing through the layers of his gloves. He allowed himself one last moment of thought before he armed himself and decided to go in.

He went in with a magnum in hand, just to be safe. He still had his fancy alien sword— Donald Doyle’s _noble_ sacrifice was surely missed by someone. He still had knives tucked into every possible compartment that he could slip them into on his armor. If he started feeling really desperate, Felix also had the sticky grenade gun that he carried on him. Just in case he needed to level the Temple for whatever reason

Not that he _thought_ he’d need to blow the Temple to hell or anything.

If the outside of the Temple was weird, then the interior was much stranger.

The files that Darnoldson— really, Felix didn’t think that Reynolds was a real person, had given him had stated that the Temple possessed a single interior chamber. Apparently the pirates had searched far and wide in search of any doors, but hadn’t found any. Because the pirates were idiots, Felix figured that they had probably missed something obvious.

But as he walked through the room with one hand to the wall, Felix found no cracks or spaces where there _could_ have been a door. Just because he had a fancy alien sword that could cut through anything, that didn’t mean that he wanted to go destroying shit for no reason. He was a fucking professional, _thank you very much_ . He didn’t _need_ to go destroying city blocks to do his job. He was quite capable without such broad tactics.

But a guy had to have his hobbies, didn’t he?

Felix knocked against the walls in the hopes that he might find a panel or something, but only got nothing. The same empty sort of resonance, just creepy enough to make a chill run down his spine.

“Hello?” He called out into the chamber, since he was starting to get flashbacks to the AI’s creepy nightmare ray from one of the other Temples.

There was no response aside from the echo of his own voice.

“Weird.” Felix shook out his arms to try and make himself relax at least a little. He was there, he just had to take the time to figure out what had the pirates panties in a twist. Maybe the place was fucking creepy, but that wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things.

Once he managed to do a full circuit of the room, Felix went for the middle. The further in he went, the more he got a good look at the many pillars that surrounded him. All of them had the same sort of alien writing, scrolling down, cut in deep and strangely angular. Creepy. Like runes. Probably all nonsense.

“When I get back, I’m going to _skin_ Darnoldson for this shit.” Felix muttered under his breath as he reached the center of the room. When he looked down, he found a strange cutout on the floor. A cutout with a _very_ familiar shape on it.

He reached down and grabbed the sword on his thigh and took a second to run his fingers over the smooth, unmarred hilt.

If he put it in and the pirates were _right_ , then there was going to be some shit for him to deal with. If they were wrong, there was also going to be some shit for him to deal with. Whether any of it actually turned out to be useful was a gamble.

But, Felix figured, he wasn’t going to know unless he actually tried and saw what happened.

He knelt down onto the floor and slid the hilt into place.

Without any warning, the entire Temple seemed to shake around him. It was a bad enough shake that Felix activated his gravboots on pure instinct.

There was a booming voice, speaking some alien language, and then Felix’s sight went completely black.

* * *

“ _Who are you?_ ” The voice boomed, now in English. “ _Meat?”_

Felix’s face screwed up. It fucking figured that he’d end up in another goddamn nightmare portal. At least this time he wouldn’t have Locus shoving a gun in his face as soon as he got out. If he got out. He hadn’t been feeling too confident about it the last time he’d stumbled into an alien nightmare portal.

And whoever decided that nightmare portals was a good idea needed to go back in time and _fuck themselves._

“Felix.” He announced, turning slowly in the pitch black empty space. Alone. Probably wouldn't be able to use his equipment this time either. He gestured to the nothingness around him. “Who the hell are you?”

“ _No_.” The voice replied, booming but somehow also managing to hiss at him. “ _Who are you?_ ”

“Felix.” He repeated, since there really wasn’t that much that he needed to say beside that. If the nightmare portal didn’t listen, that wasn’t on him.

“ _That is not who you are_.” There was a heat that began to burn behind him. When Felix looked back, he saw nothing. _“I need your name._ ”

His name. It'd been a long time since someone had last asked him for his actual fucking name. Long enough that Felix couldn’t remember the last time that anyone had called him by it, and the last time it had been specifically _not_ his partner while they were in bed.

Yeah. It had been a while.

He grit his teeth. “Why?”

_“You are here.”_ The voice seemed to be closer. The heat puffed against the back of his neck, and Felix’s hand snapped back because it felt like it was against his bare skin. When he looked down at himself, he was nude.

_What the actual fuck._ Felix thought, unable to stop the sudden churning feeling in his gut.

“And?”

_“If you are here,”_ another puff against his neck. Felix shivered violently. Something was _breathing down his fucking neck_ and he _couldn’t see it._ “ _You are here to make a contract with me_.”  
  
“And yet you won’t tell me who you are.” Felix rolled his eyes. “Not good legal practice, buddy. I mean, I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that you’re skipping a step or two.”

The voice went silent for a long moment. The burning heat dissipated for just a moment. _“You are not of this planet.”_

“Nope.” Felix replied. “Who are you?”

_“Who I am matters not.”_ Something slick rubbed against his neck, sliding up toward his jaw. It felt like a tongue, but when Felix looked, once again, nothing was there. It made his skin crawl. _“You are here with a purpose.”_

_Am I?_ Felix wondered. He was pretty sure he’d figured out whether Darnoldson was full of shit or not— he wasn’t. But he hadn’t planned much beyond finding out what the truth was.

“I guess.” Felix said with a shrug. “I mean, if you can help me kill some people—” The Reds and Blues. Freelancers. Chorusans. Probably Hargrove by the time it was all over and done with, since Felix was just _sick_ of his constant not wanting to pay them bullshit. “ _If_ you’re up to it.”

There was that feeling that he was being licked again, stronger. The phantom tongue wound around his neck. _“It’s been a long time since I last had meat.”_ It grumbled into his ear, close as a lover. “ _Good meat.”_

“You help me, you can have all the meat you want.” Felix grinned. It seemed like he was making progress, and he’d gotten the demon (and he had a second where he was floored that was what he was _actually_ calling it) off of the topic of his name. “I think I know a guy we could carve a nice rack of ribs off of.” Grif even fucking _deserved_ it for being the pain in the ass that he was too. “Probably not bad shoulders either.”

_“Good.”_ There was the feeling of something wet beginning to drip down his neck. _Drool,_ Felix’s mind supplied, barely helpful. _“I will help you. But I need your name.”_

Felix considered. “And if I give you my name—” Felix questioned the demon. “You’re going to help me?”

“ _Yes."_ The drooling intensified. Slicked down toward his collarbone.

“How long?”

_“Until the contract is complete."_

_Huh._ Felix turned his head slowly, and when he looked he saw something materialized at his side. Not a solid figure, but definitely real and there. _Sounds a lot like what I’m doing for Hargrove._

“And then what?”

_“And then I leave.”_ The demon grinned and bared its phantom teeth. _“Unless you create another contract.”_

_Seems fine._ “How many people can you serve at once?”

_“Only one.”_ The demon promised him, the tongue around his throat tightening to create near-pleasant pressure. _“Only you.”_

And _yeah,_ that sounded fucking good. A fucking advantage over the Reds and Blues if there ever was one.

Felix swallowed. “And if I give you my name, what happens?”

“ _I help you.”_

“How?”

The tongue slid away, clawed hands made their ways over his shoulders as the demon gripped onto and breathed hot breath onto the nape of his neck. They burned against his skin. _“You already know.”_ It promised him. _“Make the contract.”_

“Fine.” Felix said, feeling the grip on him tightening. “My name is Isaac Gates. What should I call you?”

_“You may call me whatever you wish.”_ The demon promised. “ _As long as you make a contract with me."_

“Yes.” Felix whispered to the demon. “I’ll make a contract with you…” His voice trailed off while he thought. He thought of the alien AI that the Reds and Blues had named Santa. " _Krampus.”_  
  
_“Good.”_

Krampus’ claws dug into his shoulders, too hard, too sharp. They pierced Felix’s skin, and the last thing he was aware of before he was going back unconscious was the feeling of his blood dripping down to be caught by a too-long tongue which definitely was neither human nor alien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My good friend The-Felix-Mcscouty did some great fanart of this chapter which you can see here](https://the-felix-mcscouty.tumblr.com/post/186317619118/there-was-that-feeling-that-he-was-being-licked)


	3. Why Am I Craving So Many Different Types of Meat?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dubcon via false pretenses ahead. Light bloodplay. Stay safe.

Truth be told, Felix got so caught up at the Temple that he mostly lost track of time. He’d gone in during daylight hours and had come out at somewhere around assfuck o’clock with fifteen messages from his partner, all with varying levels of concern. The eighth message was where Locus had turned to worry. The thirteenth was where his mood had become apathetic to the ordeal. Most likely Locus probably thought that he was dead. Either that or he’d hooked up with one of the pirates. 

Not that Felix would be caught  _ dead _ with his dick so close to the pirates. Not even with someone else's dick would he get that close to the pirates. 

One of the experiences in his life that he hadn’t had yet was Chlamydia. It was one he wasn’t planning to endure.

Either way, he got back to the ship at weird times and feeling  _ weird. _ Not particularly good weird either. It was a sort of weird that made him feel like there was something over his shoulder, fire under his skin. He was hungry but it was for a flavor that he couldn’t  _ quite _ put his finger on. He was horny and couldn’t shake the feeling no matter how many cold showers he took. He just needed to go ahead and destroy something. 

With some of those feelings he could almost satisfy them with what they had on the ship. Most of them, he couldn’t. 

The worst one was probably the hunger, if he had to say. No matter how many rations he shoveled into his mouth, he never felt satisfied. The upside was that it wasn’t like he was gaining any weight. It was just a sort of craving he couldn’t make sense of. The rations weren’t doing the trick. Not even Locus’ shitty high calorie rations which were meant to provide full days worth of calorie loads could make him feel full. 

The easiest to deal with was the want to just break things. All that he had to do was go about a normal day down on Chorus. Killing a few locals and blowing a few things up was easy. Things. People. Whichever came first, really. The big upside was that it was all part of his job so it wasn’t like he was blowing shit off in favor of taking a few things out. 

And hey, if he got lucky there was always the chance that they could line one of the pirates up for a firing line. That would sure as hell make his week a little more enjoyable. 

And then there was the horniness.

Well, it sufficed to say that it was a good thing that he had Locus just across the hall from him because otherwise it’d be a real problem. More of a problem. Whichever.

Felix might have managed to get through three days before he couldn't take it anymore. His breaking point was at 11 minutes to eleven, when he let himself into Locus’ room in the hopes that he might have been able to intercept his partner early enough that he could get laid.

He knew Locus’ schedule. He knew it well enough to know that Locus always got back to his room before midnight. He knew it well enough to be sure that Locus had most likely tucked himself off in one of the lonely gyms where no pirate would ever bother him. He knew Locus’ habits. He knew that Locus would be there in his room before midnight, and when he found himself unable to sleep Locus would only go back to the gym.

With any luck, Felix had a chance of cutting Locus off from having to do either. 

_ Either way,  _ Felix thought as he stripped off his shirt and stretched out in Locus’ bed,  _ I’m going to get to fucking enjoy myself. _

_ How _ , Krampus asked him with an insistent burning urge in the back of his mind.  _ What purpose does this serve? _

The thought was enough to make Felix bolt, physically. He sat up in Locus’ bed, skin too hot and heart thrumming in his chest. “What?” He asked.

_ This. _ Krampus asked him again.  _ Does this feed us? _

Felix blinked and realized then that he needed to answer Krampus. Answer Krampus in a way that would make sense to a demon or whatever the hell he was. He slowly leaned back in the bed again to make himself comfortable once more.

Once Locus got there, he was going to get fucking laid  and hopefully Krampus would leave him alone.

“No.” Felix sighed.

Krampus went silent after that, if only for a brief time. In the twenty minutes of silence that he’d won, Felix decided to do away with his pants when it had become clear that all he was getting to be for the moment was just uncomfortable. He couldn’t relax if he felt like he was constantly overheating, which he had ever since—

_ What are we doing here?  _ Krampus asked him again in a mental growl. Dread prickled down Felix’s spine.

“Waiting.” Felix replied, his eyes slipping shut. “Taking care of some fucking needs. That’s all.” 

_ This is not killing?  _ Krampus questioned him.  _ This is not eating? _

“Nope.” Felix let his hand slide down his stomach. It felt way nicer than it had any right to. “But it’ll make my life bearable, so we’re doing it.”

_ I want meat. _

_ “ _ And I want to get my dick sucked.” Felix muttered back to Krampus. He sincerely hoped that there wasn’t anyone hovering outside the door to listen in on him. He didn’t need anyone on the Tartarus knowing that he was talking to himself, let alone something else that nobody else could see. “Meat later.”

_ Meat now. _

“Look—” Felix scowled at the realization that he was acting exactly like one of the goddamn Freelancers. Talking to voices that were stuck in their heads without ever letting anyone else in on it. If not for fancy AI, they’d just come off as crazy. Not that they weren’t already crazy. Wash especially— people didn’t get certified Article 12 for nothing. Article 12 crazy was the kind of crazy that took work to get to.

Article 12 crazy was  _ Locus _ crazy. Felix wasn’t  _ that  _ bad by comparison.

He shook his head like he was shaking his thought. “We’re getting a different kind of meat, then we’re going to bed. Killing in the morning.”  Felix huffed and stretched out on Locus’ bed. Asshole was taking too long to get back to his room for the night.

_ You don’t have a plan.  _ Krampus observed.

“Never need one.” Felix said to the ceiling. “That’s Locus’ territory. I prefer improvising.” 

_ Locus?  _ Krampus asked him. All of a sudden, the overheating sensation on Felix’s skin was gone, even if it was only for a moment.  _ Who is Locus? _

“My partner.” Felix clarified. “This is his room.” 

_ Eat him. _

_ “ _ No.”

_ Why not? _

_ “ _ We need him.” Felix said. Like there was anything else to it.

_ Then why did you need me? _

“I need him too.” Felix grumbled, watching the door like he had a vendetta against it. Soon Locus was going to come in, probably fresh from a fucking shower, and Felix was going to seduce him. He was going to get his fucking partner in bed with him, and he was going to fucking enjoy himself and get that fucking burning under his skin to _ go away _ . For real, not temporarily either. “Partners don’t get left behind. Not breaking that rule now.” 

_ Use him then.  _ Krampus suggested.  _ If he is so useful. _

Felix hesitated. “What the hell do you mean?”

_ With me. _

Useless. Absolutely fucking useless. “What the hell do you mean?” He asked again, since the answer had done absolutely nothing to clear things up for him. He had a feeling that Krampus was going to be eighty types of cryptic in a single really frustrating package.

_ Feed on him. _ Krampus told him.  _ It’ll make you better. _

“I’m not fucking  _ eating  _ my partner.” Felix grumbled. “Christ. Learn how people work.”

_ Do it. _

Before Felix could get a response out, the door to the room cracked open, and the figure of absolutely nothing stepped in. Of course the bastard walked around the ship cloaked. Paranoia never slept, why the hell  _ would _ Locus try acting normal for once?

The shimmer of Locus’ still-cloaked frame stood by the doorway, stunned and silent. The door was left to hang open.

Felix grinned at him, turned himself so that he could prop his head up at least. “Hey.” He greeted Locus, and waited for the damned cloaking to drop. “Why don’t you get out of that armor of yours? Give me a hand with something.”

And to his greatest surprise, Krampus went thankfully silent. 

“What are you doing?” Locus asked, closing the door behind him and taking several steps inside. Only once he was over by the armor crate, did Locus’ active camo drop. 

Felix grinned at him. “Came by to visit my partner.” He answered, since that  _ was  _ true. “That’s not a crime, is it?” He allowed himself to stretch out languidly in Locus’ bed. Put himself on display. 

“No.” Locus’ hands hesitated by the clasps that kept his helmet on. It made Felix want to go over to him and remove the helmet himself. But Felix knew that if he went that far, Locus would only turn on him for it. It was better to remain in bed looking like a fucking treat than taking the lead. 

“So?” Felix grinned at him.

“I’m just confused by what you’re doing…” Locus removed the helmet and turned slowly to face Felix, eyeing him. His eyebrow raised, which Felix took to mean that Locus didn’t know how to finish.  Not that Locus not knowing how to talk like a normal person was anything new. 

Felix felt his cock get hard, heat pooled in the pit of his stomach. “Came to visit.” He repeated. “Like I said. It’s been a  _ long _ time since we did some team building exercises. Reconnected. Strengthened our bonds.”

Locus’ eyes narrowed, confused. “ _ What?” _

"It’s just been a while, christ.” Felix stretched himself out. He was still hard, able to put himself on display in the hopes that he might entice Locus a little closer. “And you can’t seriously tell me that you aren’t getting frustrated too.”

Locus’ face flushed, almost on cue. In the same moment, his grey eyes darted away from Felix.  

Felix grinned. “Right.” He continued on, emboldened. “So you should get out of that armor, and then we can enjoy ourselves, right?”

Locus seemed to consider the  _ very _ open invitation for a moment, but still his hands hesitated when he reached for the clasps on his armor. The fact that the fucking door was locked and it was just the two of them didn’t fucking matter. Always so goddamned paranoid.

Felix just watched. He didn’t expect a strip show or anything fancy. If Locus was going to take off his armor, it’d be the least erotic thing possible. Perfunctory and efficient. Nothing else. He just needed for Locus to _ hurry the fuck up _ and get into bed with him because he felt like his skin was on fire and he needed it to stop.

And also it had just been way too long since he’d last got laid. Fucking  _ months. _

It was only once Felix looked away that Locus began removing his armor, and  _ that _ did kind of sting. Felix had no doubt that Locus had his reasons for it, like that delicate in between state when he wasn’t fully armored or unclothed actually  _ mattered _ . A part of Felix knew that it was just that Locus had never, not in any of his seventeen years of both military and paramilitary experience had  _ never _ properly managed to get used to the lack of privacy. The weird shit with his armor had only served to make things worse. It was enough to make Felix actually miss the guy that was just shy about showering with others.

So Felix waited for him, as patiently as he could manage. He practically sat on his hands to make sure that he didn’t accidentally fuck it up.

Krampus, however, was much less patient.

_ This is your partner? _

Felix bit his tongue. He couldn’t let Locus know that shit at the Temple of NIght had actually  _ worked. _ He didn’t want to know what kind of crater that sort of crazy would leave on Chorus. The prospect was bad enough that he almost even felt a pang of sympathy for the planet.

Almost.

Krampus didn’t leave him to his thoughts for long.  _ He seems weak. _

“Felix.” Locus said from behind him. It interrupted Felix from his thoughts before Felix could actually make any sort of response to Krampus. Instead, Felix glanced over to see that his partner had gotten himself down to his undersuit. He hadn’t unzipped it yet. That alone sent a certain jolt through Felix. He always liked it when Locus made sure to preserve the little things just for him. Made him feel special.  _ Important,  _ even.

Felix  _ liked _ knowing that the only one allowed to touch Locus’ bare skin was him. He liked that he was allowed the rare privilege of being the one to be able to actually go ahead and expose Locus’ skin. Nobody else got that.

So he did what he was supposed to. He stepped up into Locus’ space and let his hands hover over his partner’s body. Considering. His cock throbbed and strained against his boxers, uncomfortable enough that Felix felt like he was going to tear through the fabric at any moment. He still felt too hot, and the idea of Locus’ skin under his throwing off heat was too much. It was  _ magnetic. _

_ Feed on him _ . Krampus suggested unhelpfully.

“Is it my birthday?” Felix asked, hand making its way up to the back of Locus’ neck where the zipper to the undersuit was. “Because you know that it’s been a long time since I got to unwrap any presents.”

Locus just watched him, and said nothing. Felix cast a quick glance downward to check whether his partner was hard or not. It was a good thing that Locus was already out of his codpiece. If he hadn’t been, it would have been a different story. 

Sure enough, there was indeed the slight tenting at the front of his undersuit. Nothing that could have been comfortable either.

_ Fucking jackpot, _ Felix thought with a grin. He grabbed at the zipper at the back of his partner's neck, and drew it down slowly. The undersuit peeled away to show the warm brown skin underneath. It showed every scar that littered the length of his neck. Every spot where Felix had left some sort of mark on him before.

The further down it went, the more he got to see of his partner. More of the rich color of his skin. More of his scars, most of which Felix had been there for when he’d gotten them. Finally, the rest of the suit fell away and Felix grabbed Locus by the hand to tug him forward and toward the bed

_ Feed on him. _ Krampus insisted again, this time louder but still just as unhelpfully as the last time.

_ I would if I knew what that meant, because I’m not fucking eating him.  _ Felix thought in the hopes that he could get Krampus to take a hint and drop the subject. He had more important things to do. Like fucking.

Felix angled the two of them so that he could push Locus back onto the bed. Locus went, and Felix climbed up on top of him so that he could settle in Locus’ lap.

“Fuck—” Felix hissed as he made himself comfortable. Should have taken his fucking underwear off first. “Been way too fucking long, Locs.”

Whatever reaction Felix was expecting, it was about the opposite of what he got. 

Instead of saying something, Locus pushed himself slightly upright to get a good look at Felix. His brows knit together, Locus thinking as loud as he usually did.

A hand came up to press gently against Felix’s collarbone, testing. Unsure. Locus’ thumb smoothed over the bone, and Felix was surprised by a fast jolt of pain that rocketed through him.

“What the—”

“When did this happen?” Locus asked, looking from Felix’s collar to his face instead. 

Felix glanced down at himself. 

There were scabs that looked like they’d been left by claws on his collarbones. Three places where the skin had been pierced on each side. Asymmetrical, deep. Felix hadn’t remembered getting them in person. He’d thought that the shit that was going on in the fucking temple had just been temple related hallucinations. Like the nightmare portal— all psychological. 

He hadn’t even noticed that he was injured. 

Felix took in a sharp breath as Locus’ thumb brushed against one of the wounds. “I wouldn’t worry about it.” He offered. “Issue with the breastplate. Brought it in for repairs when it happened.”    


Locus’ frown deepened. “If your armor—”

“It’s been  _ fixed _ , Locs.” Felix insisted. If he didn’t, there was no way that Locus was ever going to drop it. “Now can we  _ please—” _ Felix leaned forward so that he was braced over Locus’ body. “Get on with it?”

To prove his point, Felix rolled his hips so that his cock ground against his partner’s. Locus let out a noise, the same sort of strangled groan of pleasure that Felix was too used to hearing him try to get out. 

On cue, Locus’ big hands bracketed Felix’s hips, thumbs pressing into the hollows created between muscles and bone. His nails bit into Felix’s skin, and it was just about one of the most perfect things that he’d ever gotten the pleasure of feeling in his entire life. Absolutely fucking divine.

“Fuck, Locs-” He gasped, tilting and grinding his hips against Locus’. It was the first time that evening that Locus’ hips moved against his in return, the same sort of desperation clear in his open, wanting expression.

Locus’ hands slipped downward, just enough so that he could tug at Felix’s underwear. He still didn’t know why he hadn’t gotten rid of them already.

Felix ended up leaning forward and off of Locus just enough that he could slip them down onto his legs, and then the effort to get his boxers off was mostly just awkward after that. Locus said nothing, but as soon as Felix was unclothed completely and back in Locus’ lap, he had a hand around his cock, stroking slowly.

And it was fucking  _ heavenly. _

It also wasn’t fucking enough.

_ More _ Krampus demanded out of nowhere, and Felix felt those odd wounds on his chest almost beginning to burn. It wasn’t a painful burn, but Felix didn’t know that it was  _ pleasurable. _ It was desperate. It was wanting. It was emptiness that needed to be filled, the same way that he needed Locus’ cock inside him—

_ Perfect. _

Felix nearly threw himself down on top of Locus to try and seize his mouth in a desperate kiss. Locus kissed back, just as hard, fingers digging ten perfect crescents into Felix’s skin, and with any luck, Felix would get to see them bruise and remember that he finally got back into Locus’ bed after so goddamn long. 

Locus gasped into the kiss, while Felix wrapped his fingers in his partner’s dark hair and pulled. A low, needy groan escaped Locus, this time not having been able to be caught in his throat as usual. This time, more desperate than Felix was used to hearing. He bit at Locus’ lips, pressed himself close. He wanted to pull Locus into him. He wanted to be able to swallow Locus whole. 

He wanted every part of Locus’ being to belong to  _ him _ , and the thought of that sort of possession, that ownership was fucking amazing. 

_ Yes. _ Krampus growled in his head.  _ Take him. _

_ Take him.  _

“Locs—” Felix gasped in between nips. “C’mon, fuck me.” 

“I don’t have—”

“And  _ I  _ don’t  _ care.”  _ It was like Locus thought he was fucking fragile or something. Felix had never been fragile a single day in his entire goddamned life, nothing was changing. Just because he was small and thin, that didn’t mean that he was  _ weak. _ Lean fucking muscle and a knowledge of how to use it went a long fucking way. 

Locus stared up at him, something like surprise in his expression. Grey eyes, wide and blown dark. Desperate. Needy.  _ Wanting. _

Felix rocked his hips, rocked his cock into Locus’ still-closed hand. The hand action was nice, but it  _ really _ wasn’t quite doing it for him. 

He  _ needed _ more. 

Locus’ face sank into a determined sort of expression, and Felix groaned in delight when Locus twisted his hand just so at the head of his cock. His partner muscled the two of them upright and pressed a single hand to Felix’s chest so that he could push him off, just enough that Locus could get up and get the two of them a little bit of space away from each other. 

Felix rolled off of Locus, as little as he wanted to do so, and watched his partner get up, stretch his legs, and walk across the room to where his foot locker sat in the corner. The same goddamn foot locker that Locus had been holding onto for years. The same one that had gone to two wars and half a dozen skirmishes with him. 

The foot locker that Felix knew contained all of Locus’ possessions that weren’t just guns or armor. The important shit. The personal shit, like family photos (Felix knew of only one), and trinkets. 

Locus knelt down and pulled the locker open. He rifled around inside for thirty seconds before he stood up and walked back over to the bed with a square of foil and a bottle clutched in his big hands. 

Felix considered scooting back on the bed, letting Locus just climb over him and have him that way, but—

_ Take him. _

Yeah. That. 

He made sure to keep out of the way until Locus was close enough to him that he could reach out and grab him. Felix caught him by the wrist and tugged him into the bed, wrestled him down into position, and re-assumed his place in Locus’ lap. There was no way he was being pushed away either, thanks. 

Felix ground his ass down onto Locus’ cock and offered his open palm. 

“ _ Give _ .” 

Without protest, Locus handed over the bottle of lube and condom. 

For some reason that Felix couldn’t quite understand, he tossed the condom and its wrapper away and onto the floor. It wasn’t something that he'd ever really been into before. 

_ Flesh is better.  _ The demon insisted, and for the first time since he’d taken the beast on, he had the feeling that he was actually powerless to it.  _ Yes. _ Krampus told him as he leaned back over Locus and popped the cap on the bottle open so that he could start to get himself ready.

Locus gripped onto Felix’s hip on one side and the meat of his thigh on the other. Felix slicked his fingers and reached back behind him so that he could slip a finger inside of himself, and then another after it. It really  _ had  _ been too long, since Felix felt a familiar sort of pain. He bit back a hiss, opened his eyes instead so that he could look down at Locus’ face. 

He was fucking  _ enthralled.  _ Enough so that Felix felt like he would end up scaring him if he breathed the wrong way.

Felix got himself to the point where he was just prepared enough that he knew he could take Locus’ cock.

He grinned down at Locus, with what he figured had to be some sort of manic expression on his face.

Locus stared back up at him. Like he couldn’t fucking tear his eyes away, like Felix was the only thing that existed in the universe that had ever mattered.

It made a fire light in Felix’s belly.

He reached back and stroked Locus' cock with a hand which was still slick with lube. Locus tilted his head back, baring his throat. Felix groaned and directed Locus’ cock into him, slid down onto it and let out a needy groan that he was sure people would be able to hear down the hall. 

And god, how he didn’t care. 

Felix didn’t waste any time. He fucked himself down on Locus’ cock, leaned forward to bite at his neck when it was offered, dug his fingers into Locus’ shoulders as he pinned him down. He left eight perfect crescents on Locus’ skin. 

Locus’ cock pressed against his prostate  _ just right _ and Felix moaned again, redoubling his efforts. Without realizing it, his nails sank further into Locus’ skin to the point where blood began to well up around him. 

“Felix!” Locus shouted at him, the loudest that Felix had  _ ever  _ heard him get in bed. Felix grinned and leaned back slightly. 

“Fucking amazing, Locs—” He gasped. “Never want this shit to stop.” 

The fire was there under his skin still. Felix whined and pulled his right hand away from Locus’ shoulder so that he could lean back and keep his balance. He rolled his hips furthermore, and when Locus’ hand wrapped around his cock, Felix moaned. Too loud. They were bound to have visitors because of it. 

The heat burning in him got stronger still. Felix leaned in and dropped his nose into the crook of Locus’ neck. He nuzzled into the space behind his ear, breathed in Locus’ scent. He mostly smelled like his undersuit, that and metal. Gun oil. All shit that Felix couldn’t stand normally, but when it was Locus he didn’t even fucking care. 

_ Feed. _

For the first time, Felix understood. It wasn’t the most comfortable stretch that he’d ever had to do, but he dipped down to the space at Locus’ shoulders where the blood had begun to well up. He lapped at the skin, even though the blood didn’t taste good on his tongue. Locus let out a little noise. It wasn’t anywhere near as high or embarrassing the shout that Locus had let out earlier had been. It was still exactly what Felix wanted to hear. Music to his fucking ears. 

The uncomfortable heat seemed to begin to subside. Felix drew back and looked Locus in the eyes. They were still dark and dilated. The way that Felix had never seen them for anyone else in the entire known galaxy.  _ His  _ Locus. Nobody else’s Locus.

His Locus making him strong and making him feel like he could be so much more than he really was. 

_ Good, _ Krampus whispered to him.  _ You understand. Now use him. _

_ Use him? _ Felix wondered.  _ How?  _ This shit was too much for his hormone addled brain to be able to make sense of. He just wanted to come and finish enjoying his partner for the evening. In the morning, he was going to have work to do. Had to savor shit in the moment. 

Felix rocked his hips a little bit faster. “You’re mine.” He told his partner, since it was the honest truth. “Don’t you ever fucking forget it. Mine, all mine, christ—”   


Locus’ hand pumped around his cock. 

Even still, Locus said nothing to him. He didn't have to, Felix could practically feel the interest radiating off of him. Felix thrust into Locus' hand sharp and fast, five more times, and moaned when Locus grabbed him a little tighter by the hips so that he could guide Felix's hips himself. 

It got no protests from Felix. He moved with Locus' motions and he couldn't help but laugh when Locus' mouth dropped open. When his eyes opened and he stared at the space above him like he was seeing the face of god. When Locus moaned a name, one that Felix hadn't really used in so long that there was only Locus and a demon left that knew it. 

Felix kept on moving, even though he watched Locus' face contort from pain to pleasure under him. When he finally came, it was with a too-sharp thrust into Locus' hand. He gasped hard, his vision whited out. 

He didn't even bother to be ceremonious about getting off of Locus. All Felix cared to do was drop down to his partner's side in the bed and make himself comfortable once more. Some nights, he got exactly what he fucking needed and it was great. 

This was definitely one of those nights. 

Felix grinned over at Locus, even though his partner's eyes had already begun to drift closed.

Felix propped himself up against Locus, rested against him. "Hey." He said. "Should get up soon, right?"

Locus shot him the dirtiest look. A look so dirty that it almost made Felix wonder if he had round two in him-- something about the demon being inside him told him that he very well might have. 

"Yes." Locus sighed. He pushed himself upright with one arm, scarred and warm, strong. "We should. You need to shower." 

"And you don't?"

Locus shot him a flat look. The asshole was trying to shoo him out so he could get a shower and Felix knew it. He mostly just didn't care. 

"Get out." Locus grumbled. "We'll talk in the morning." 

And god, how Felix really didn't want to know what that shit was going to be about. Having a talk with Locus was never good. 

Ever. 

For anything.


	4. Alarm Clocks Are For Suckers and Nobody Sucks More Than You

They did not, in fact, talk in the morning. 

Felix knew not to worry about Locus deciding he didn’t feel like talking. He’d been dealing with Locus deciding that he didn't feel like talking for years. That would have been a  _ normal  _ reason for the night before to have gone without discussion. 

No, instead the reason they didn’t talk in the morning had to be  _ fucking weird. _ It wasn’t because Felix had managed to piss Locus off so badly that the guy just didn't want to be around him at all. Locus hadn't gotten up at an inhuman hour in the morning to go off on an excursion, either.

No, the reason that they didn't talk in the morning was because Locus for the first time in his miserable forty five years of existence had decided to  _ sleep in. _

Felix had never been the type of guy to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he decided to leave Locus to it instead of poking him awake and ruining things. Locus sleeping in wasn’t great, but Felix was pretty sure that a cranky Locus would have been enough to single-handedly ensure a mission failure. 

So he let Locus sleep on the off chance that sleeping in might make the guy a little less of a weird asshole.

When Locus finally rolled his ass out of bed, it was three in the afternoon, and Locus looked both  _ very _ unhappy and  _ very _ tired. 

Or, like he had just crawled out of his own grave, if Felix had to say what Locus looked like. 

He was paler than he usually looked when they were off on assignment— so much time locked up in his armor meant Locus never actually saw the sun. Felix made an effort to get some time out of his armor so that he’d look normal. Locus wouldn’t. 

On top of the paleness, there was a cold sweat that had broken out on Locus’ skin, his eyes were glassy and sunken. The guy looked like he was suffering with the flu or something. Just the sight of it was enough to make Felix’s stomach churn at least a little bit. Shit wasn’t normal.

For a moment, Felix had to worry that his partner was contagious. The last thing that they needed was Locus turning the Tartarus into the polar opposite of a quarantine zone. They were at war, no time for people to get sick. In fact, if everyone on the Tartarus got sick at the same time, it would probably have been enough to end the entire war on Chorus, and  _ not _ in their favor. 

Felix watched as Locus pulled up a chair and seated himself in it. He at least managed to put on the under suit for his armor, but Felix was tempted to tell the guy to take his shit, put on a sweater and go back to bed. 

Locus eyed him, frustration creasing his brow. _ "Why?" _

It wasn’t exactly a mystery what Locus was asking. 

"I, the caring partner that I am,  figured that  _ you _ could use the sleep." Felix replied, leaning back with his feet propped up on his desk. He was comfortable, thanks, and had managed to spend most of his day just looking over information sent up by the guys that they had on the ground. Which in function meant that he’d gotten a day off and he wasn’t usually the type to complain about a day off. "Besides, it’s not like you've missed anything." 

"We need to—“ 

"Already got guys on it." Felix cut Locus off. "Nothing new in the recon, by the way. Still a divided army, the Reds and Blues are still idiots, and Hargrove is  _ still  _ up our collective ass." 

Locus looked like he was about to ask something. 

Felix rolled his eyes. "Oh, and I took his call today.  _ Alone. _ So thanks for that. What the hell is wrong with you?" He dropped a folder down onto the desk. "Because if you're sick because you let your vaccinations run out because you won’t take off the armor long enough for a shot, I might have to kill you myself. And trust me when I say that I will enjoy it.“ 

"I don't know." Locus grumbled. "I've felt...  wrong all day. And it’s come out of nowhere."

Felix nodded along like normal, but he couldn’t help the nagging feeling that something was more wrong than it looked. The only issue was that he didn’t know  _ what _ could be wrong. 

He sighed. “Well.” He frowned. “I guess that it’s a little late to start fixing it. Might as well get some rest. Or you know,  _ more  _ rest, in your case.” He smirked at Locus, since he caught the way that his partner’s eyes flickered away from him, awkward and unsure. Like a kid getting scolded for being late to school.

“Alright.” Locus conceded. “Do you at least have any files I need to look over?”

Felix offered the folder that he’d been reading when Locus had come in. It was for the better really, since Felix had never been any good when it came to doing desk work. Not since the day he was born had he ever been useful at a desk. Locus could do that shit like he was born for it— which was weird because Felix knew from experience that his partner had a particularly strong distaste for bureaucracy. 

Locus took the file though, and when Felix got a look at his hand (Felix couldn’t  _ remember _ the last time he’d seen Locus without gloves) he could practically see the veins sticking out from his skin. 

He let out a breath. “It’s nothing good. And drink some fucking water if you’re going to stay up and work like that.”

Locus eyed him, brows furrowed and awkwardness radiating through his entire body. 

“Understood.” He answered finally, before he left Felix alone at his desk. 

Felix flopped back into his seat and picked up the next folder in the stack. Their own personnel files. 

He had a mystery or two to get to the bottom of. Several mysteries, every single one more annoying than the last.

First, he needed to figure out what the hell was wrong with Locus. 

After, he needed to figure out who the hell Darnoldson was.

* * *

Felix made it barely an hour after being in contact with Locus before he started feeling  _ really _ weird. 

The heat in his belly was back with a vengeance, somehow managing to burn hotter and more insatiably than it had been the night before. It came on so suddenly and so horribly that Felix couldn’t manage to do anything more than read the first page four pages of a personnel file. He’d gotten in far enough to realize that he had  _ absolutely no idea _ who any of his and Locus’ current men were. Let alone what their names were, or what they had found themselves on the Tartarus for. 

It was bad enough that Felix almost immediately made off to the bathroom for a cold shower, and he was glad to lock everyone else on the ship out of the showers just to make sure that he could get some goddamn privacy. If he  _ didn’t _ get that privacy, he was bound to end up sounding like a crazy person. Crazier than Locus, at least, and the last thing that Felix needed was  _ that  _ speculation hanging over his head. He needed Price breathing down his neck even less. 

So yeah. Privacy was a  _ very _ good thing. 

But he chose the shower stall that looked the least like it might leave him in serious need of a tetanus shot and flipped on a cold shower. Anything to make him feel a little less desperate and horrible.

“Alright.” Felix huffed, pushing his wet hair back away from his face so that he didn’t end up with water or shampoo in his eyes. It was getting too long. Long enough that he needed to take the time to shave the sides down again sometime soon before he started looking like he had the world’s weirdest mullet. “You and I have to talk, Krampus.”    


Come to think of it, his head had felt strangely empty that day. Quiet. Like Krampus had just decided to fuck off that day just because he felt like it. Or like Krampus  _ knew _ that Felix was going to end up pissed off at him. 

A spike of anger shot up Felix’s spine. 

_ What about? _ Krampus replied to him after far too long. 

“ _ This _ .” Felix gestured widely with his hands like that alone would give a proper explanation for what he was feeling. He did it despite the fact that he was alone and was pretty sure that Krampus couldn’t  _ actually _ see him. “The hunger. The horniness. All of the other shit.” 

_ I require for my needs to be met.  _ Krampus told him, like  _ that _ would demystify things. 

“Yeah, okay. And I get that.” Felix huffed. “But I  _ really  _ don’t like that it’s like this. And  _ what _ —” He grit his teeth, a different question coming to mind that he could ask. “Did you do something to Locus?” 

_ I didn’t.  _ Krampus told him, too nonchalantly.  _ You did. _

“No,  _ that's _ not it.” Felix hissed. “Because he hasn’t been that bad in close to a decade _.  _ Locus  _ doesn’t get sick _ . The armor he’s so attached to fucking prevents it on its own. And I know his immune system isn’t that fucking weak. And he’s vaccinated.  _ And even then _ , diseases and shit take time to incubate.” He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. He still felt too warm, even with the water close to ice cold. “So what the fuck is happening?”

_ You know. _

“I really fucking don’t.”

_ You fed on him. _

With those words alone, things began to click into place in Felix’s mind. Krampus’ insistence the night before, that feeding shit. The  _ eating  _ shit. 

Feed on him, the demon had insisted. 

And Felix had gone licking the guy’s own blood off of him,  _ god _ dammit. He’d given Krampus exactly what the demonic asshole had wanted and he hadn’t even thought about it because he was too busy thinking with his dick. 

_ God. Fucking. Dammit. _

“Okay.” Felix squeezed his eyes shut. He needed to think. He needed to think and everything was too goddamn loud so he couldn’t. He felt like shit. Like trash. Like a fucking idiot. “You made me feed on his life force or some shit, didn’t you?”

_ Good. _ Krampus replied.  _ You understand. _

“Yeah.” Felix huffed. “I guess I do. But I  _ need  _ my fucking partner in working order to do this fucking job. He’s my partner, that means that I need him to be able to get it done. So how do I get him back to… working?”   


_ You don’t need him.  _ Krampus told him, uncomfortable pressure forming at the back of his head like it was physically living in there instead of just being spectral or whatever. The heat under his skin got so bad that for a second Felix could have  _ sworn  _ that the cold water was beginning to steam when it hit him.  _ As long as you have me and you have his strength, you do not need him. _

“Bullshit.” Felix grit out, leaning up against the shower wall. “Because I don’t  _ feel  _ any different. Not good different, at least. And  _ he _ is the one that does all of the hard work. Like recon. And intelligence gathering. When’s the last time you’ve done either of those?” 

Silence. 

“Thought so.” Felix muttered. “How long?”   


_ Three days. _

“We don’t have three days.” And whether that was true or not, Felix didn’t technically know. He never actually knew how much time he had before he had to be down on Chorus’ surface fighting off the locals. For all he knew, he could be called down to blow Kimball or Tucker away in twenty minutes. That was the way that it always went. 

And really, it was always when he was in the middle of doing something enjoyable too when he got called down. Eating, or fucking, or sleeping, or having a goddamn shower like he was in that moment. 

And those decisions were  _ always _ made based off of Locus’ recon and intelligence networks. Locus kept the lines of communication open and their contacts within reach. Felix did the more human-oriented work while Locus did the rest. It had  _ always _ been that way, even back when they were still just UNSC hacks. 

The truth was that Felix had spent so long working with Locus that he didn’t actually  _ know  _ whether he could figure out how to operate without him there.

_ So feed on him more. _

The suggestion settled, heavy and cold in Felix’s stomach. The heat, the hunger began to subside. 

The water was cold. Way too cold. 

Felix shivered and blinked. “More?” He asked, his head tilting down so that he could stare at the cold tiles under his feet. “You want me to make him worse?”

_ It makes you stronger.  _ Krampus insisted, the dull throb in his head relocating itself to the front of his skull.

“Strong enough to wipe out an army and a bunch of rainbow idiots  _ and _ two Freelancers basically solo?” 

_ If you feed enough, _ Krampus answered,  _ yes.  _

“How much is enough?”

_ You will know. _

“Not helpful.” Felix muttered under his breath. He reached for the bottle of shampoo that he’d brought in with him. “How much is too much?”

_ You will know. _

“How?”

_ You will be stronger.  _ Krampus paused for a moment, almost unsure of what he was going to say. Or unsure of the reaction.  _ He will die. _

Fear settled in Felix’s gut alongside the cold. 

Krampus continued on, almost as though he didn’t even care how upset Felix was.  _ It is the price to pay for such power. Life. _

Felix nodded. He hated it. He understood. He needed to make sure that Locus would still be able to fight. 

“And there’s nothing you can do without me doing that to get stronger?” Felix asked. “Because I’ve gotta say, draining my partner’s energy to feed you doesn’t really do it for me. Especially when you still haven’t answered me about the hunger and shit.”

_ There is only feeding.  _ Krampus told him, voice still growling in the back of his mind but it let up enough that Felix didn’t feel like he was experiencing a migraine. Not much, but it was definitely something.  _ Whet your appetites. _

His  _ appetites _ . Felix frowned. 

“So is that why I’m craving raw meat and shit like that?” Felix squeezed the bottle of shampoo he’d brought in with him a little too hard. More of the gel squirted out than he liked, or even needed. More than he had ever needed since he’d started wearing his hair the way he did. “And the being horny thing?”

_ Just another way to feed. _

“I’m not eating my partner.” Felix grumbled as he began to massage the shampoo into his hair and scalp. “If that’s what you want. Fucking him I don’t mind, but if he’s going to get worse and worse every time it happens, I’m not sure that I want to.” 

_ He will live. _ Krampus told him, almost as though he didn’t understand Felix’s actual issue. It made Felix take a deep breath in the hopes that he might have been able to calm himself down.

He shook his head and decided to focus in on his shower instead. It was better that way. Easier. Besides, he needed to get cleaned up and he knew it. At least one person on the Tartarus had to seem like they had their shit together. No reason that it shouldn’t be him, regardless of whether he was talking to himself. A demon. It was all fucking insane and he knew it. 

“Not good enough.” Felix muttered, but for a moment, he wondered whether he really  _ believed  _ it. 

With Krampus’ strength, he was supposed to be able to fight off an army alone. 

In the morning, he’d go down to Chorus and he’d see what he was capable of.

After that, he’d decide what to do. 

Intelligence gathering was important, after all. 

 


	5. Why Should I Care About Car Manufacturers?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eye gore ahead. You've been warned.

When morning came once more, Felix poked his head into his partner's room, almost fully armored. It was a full hour before he had to be on his way down to give the situation on planet his own evaluation since guys like that Darnoldson asshole clearly couldn’t be trusted as far as he could throw them. Felix carried his helmet with him in his left hand and knocked on the closed and locked door with his right. Locus quietly bid him in and the door unlocked for him with a quiet  _thud_.

His partner was in bed, still looking worse for the wear. He looked stronger than he had the day before, but still unwell. Felix couldn’t help the quick stab of guilt that shot its way into his gut at the knowledge that  _he’d done that._

“Hey.” Felix greeted him. “Fever break yet?”

“No.” Locus replied, propping himself up in his bed in a way that told Felix that his joints were stiff. Had to be fucking exhausted, even despite the bed rest.

All of it was fucked up. And all Felix could do was  _hope_  that Krampus’ little three days estimate would prove to be true. If it wasn’t, they were definitely fucked.

Felix shrugged, schooling his face into a neutral expression. “Well I’m sure you’ll be back to normal in no time.” He commented. “I’m heading down in an hour. Need me to get you anything? Chicken soup? Tea? Shittons of medicine that they’d definitely card me for if I tried to buy in bulk?”

“Take some of the men with you.” Was all Locus answered.

“No need.” Felix said with a shrug. “Figured I’d make it a bit of a quieter trip than usual. Try and cut off a scouting party or something. Take a walk in the park, or maybe on the beach.”

Locus scowled, but he nodded along.

“Keep a low profile.” 

“I intend to.” Felix grinned at Locus. “You just try not to forget how to do shit on this little vacation of yours. Can’t have you getting rusty.”

_“It’s not a vacation.”_

“ _Sure it’s not._ ” Felix prodded, feeling almost playful but very much alive. “Take care, Locs.”

Felix left before Locus could say anything else to him.

* * *

Of all the things about being on Chorus which always managed to surprise Felix, it was how  _easy_  it actually was to get down on planet. He would have figured that the united armies would have gone ahead and set up to shoot down whatever craft entered the atmosphere. But they hadn’t, probably because they just didn’t have the damn resources for it.

So he got onto the planet with ease, just like he did most of the days that he needed to drop down onto Chorus.

At the end of the day, one of the few things that they still seemed to have going for them was the tractor beams. As long as they had those, then Felix figured they could potentially starve Chorus out. Not that he wanted for that to be the route that they took. Sieges weren’t fun for anyone involved.

In a lot of ways, his current trip down to the planet felt familiar. All that he seemed to be doing there was retreading old ground. He stopped at the same base, and took the same Mongoose that he had the last time he’d been there. The vehicle was louder than he would have liked for a trip which was meant to be done with a  _low profile_ , but he wasn’t like Locus and  _thank fuck for that,_ because Felix was pretty sure that the guy got a hard on for the amount of silence he could wring out of a stealth mission.

Truth be told, the universe probably couldn’t stand to have two Locuses. Locii.  _Whatever_. Fuck the asshole for choosing to take a name that Felix could never figure out how to fucking pluralize. He had a feeling that Locus didn’t even know how to pluralize his own code name, the asshole.

Regardless of how his partner’s stupid latin code name which he’d insisted on  _not_  being a normal name was meant to be pluralized, Felix had things to do. Important things to do. He had an itchy feeling under his skin, like it was almost pulled too tight over his body. Felix wasn’t sure whether it was something Krampus-driven or whether he was just sick of not being able to do shit.

Either way, he needed to find a fucking solution because being antsy wasn’t any fucking fun.

And the perfect cure, Felix figured, was going to be taking apart some soldiers piece by piece. If he got lucky he’d even get a chance at one of the Reds or Blues. If he got  _really_  lucky it’d be Tucker. Or the idiot Reds that he’d gotten stuck dealing with when he was with the New Republic. Hell, he would have even taken their lieutenants if he thought it would make him relax a little bit.

 _But_ , (and there always had to be a fucking  _but,)_  going after the Reds and Blues would draw out too much attention, and then Locus would get pissy and he’d risk blowing their job again.

So Felix would have to find his fun where he could find it. No going after the ones he really wanted to take a piece out of. He could only play with whatever he happened to come across.

He kept an active map on his HUD in his helmet, and followed along with it just in case he ended up in trouble. A part of him wanted to go back to the Temple of Night and see whether he could get more out of it than basically insatiable horniness and a desire to eat raw meat (he’d learned that morning that uncooked MREs did nothing to satiate it. He’d also learned that he never wanted to have uncooked MREs again because he’d somehow found a way to make them  _more_ inedible than they were normally.)

In his helmet he also kept an open line of communication for Locus to get a hold of him. Felix expected to get either get complete radio silence from his partner, since Locus was likely to either take his time and  _enjoy_  the silence, or he was likely to be checking in on Felix every once in a while because he decided that Felix couldn’t be trusted.

Or maybe he was so sick and close to dead that he wouldn’t have the energy for either.

In truth, Felix would have liked  _either_  of the other options more than what he actually got.

 _If you find soldiers,_  Krampus asked him completely unprompted as Felix set off down a road which he knew led to one of the old Fed outposts,  _what do you plan to do with them?_

“Kill them.” Felix replied. “Obviously.”

 _Let me instead._ The itching burning feeling started under his skin again. It was the worst along the line of Felix’s spine, like there was something in the vertebrae that wanted to burst out and open him up.  _It will be better for us both._

“And what happens if I do that?” Felix asked. “Because I’m not really loving what I’ve gotten out of this bullshit so far.”

_You will know what it feels like for your power to have teeth._

And god, if Felix wanted to hear cryptic one-liners he would have been calling Locus or trying to become  _best friends forever_  with Washington. He didn’t need it from fucking Krampus too.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

 _There are three._ Krampus pointedly ignored his question in order to give a report of his own.  _Coming in from the west. They wear armor like yours._

Felix blinked and pulled his Mongoose to a hard stop, killing the engine so that he couldn’t be heard. He dismounted and wheeled it off toward the bushes where it was easily covered up. If he’d had Locus’ cloaking unit it wouldn’t have been a problem at all.

But  _he’d_  been the one to take the hardlight shield. It was useful, but goddamn if he couldn’t have done more with a cloaking unit like his partner’s. He could stab so many people in the backs without even having to go through the diplomatic bullshit in the process.

The shield was nice, but he could have done way more with invisibility. More than Locus did, probably.

Felix tucked himself into the bushes, closed his eyes, and listened.

His jaws began to ache. Felix clenched his hands into fists and tried his best to ignore it.

Sure enough, three young soldiers did come into view, following down the more heavily traveled parts of the road while they bickered about something. Felix rolled his eyes and began to reach down for the knives he carried in the front pockets of his armor, but stopped himself. Or rather, something stopped  _him._

None of the three soldiers noticed him. Felix took a breath and worked his jaw in the hopes that he would manage to relieve himself of the sudden, strange pain that reminded him too easily of a time when he'd been young man in the UNSC trying to deal with the fact that he had his wisdom teeth coming in. That shit had hurt like a bitch then, but it hadn’t been  _sudden._

 _Kill them._  Krampus commanded him.  _You don’t need that._

Felix’s heart beat too hard in his chest. He couldn’t be expected to take out three men without weaponry, could he?

_You don’t need it._

“Then what the fuck—” Felix began to hiss into his helmet’s mic as though he were talking to his partner instead only to stop himself. Right. Talking to himself made him seem like a crazy person. He didn’t need to give fucking Price another reason to go trying to psychoanalyze him. Didn’t want to act like the fucking Freelancers. Of fucking course.

Felix slowly drew his hand away from the pouches at the front of his chest piece. He sat back on his heels and prepared himself, only keeping his eyes on the soldiers up ahead. 

The first of the three stopped dead in their tracks. Their Fed helmet swiveled, sage green lines making it all too obvious what they were doing. “Did you hear that?” They— a young woman, apparently, asked the group.

“Probably nothing.” Spoke up the one among them that wasn’t in Fed armor. Felix didn’t recognize the voice, which only meant that they left such an unmemorable impression that he couldn’t care. Probably was one of the better ones, or at least one of the less annoying ones of the bunch. “We’re in a jungle. Probably crawling with animals?”

“Oh please, Ford.” The third said with a shrug to their shoulders that almost made it seem like they were doing a full body eye roll. Not the kind that Locus did, where he also managed to radiate  _murder,_  but a sarcastic one. “When’s the last time you saw a fucking  _animal_ ?” 

“I don’t know!” Ford replied. “I haven’t had many jungle patrols!”

“Thought so.” The third soldier replied. “What about you, Portia?”

“Can’t say I’ve seen one since I was little.” The Fed girl spoke up. “I figured they’d all gotten killed in this war shit or learned to avoid people or something.” She shook her head. “Just thought I heard something, Bentley. It’s probably nothing.” 

“Right.” The third soldier said, apparently named Bentley. “So we should probably ignore it and move on.” 

“But what if it is something?” Ford asked. “We’re on a patrol. Aren’t we supposed to check stuff out if we think something’s going on?” Their head swiveled around. “What if it’s a pirate or something? Or one of the—”

“Please.” Bentley did another full-body eye roll. “If you’re seriously about to mention the mercs, you know that they haven’t been seen on the planet in like… a month, right?”

“They’re still fighting here!” 

Portia sighed. “Bentley is right.” She switched the shoulder that she had her battle rifle strapped over. “Even if one of the Mercs  _was_ on the planet, they’re not interested in people like us. They’d send lackeys after us or something.” She frowned. “Locus wouldn’t have been caught dead around us even when he  _was_  playing along with the Federal Army.”  

“It’s true.” Bentley confirmed. “He only came out to play when it was  _important_. And then usually we'd have a soldier or a squad leader dropping dead the same day.”

Ford sighed. “Felix was always with us.” They explained. “It's how he twisted the knife. He’d come after soldiers like us.” 

“But Felix isn’t the invisible one.” Portia mumbled. “That’s  _Locus_. If you really think we’re not alone, you can lead, but—”

“Wait a minute.” Bentley spoke up. “I’m the squad leader, remember?”

“Yeah, you are.” Ford sighed. “So what are we going to do?”

Bentley took a moment to consider his two companions. “We’ll do a quick search.” He instructed. “Just long enough to make sure that we can get away with wasting so much time when Washington reads the mission report.” 

“Ugh.” Portia groaned. “Right. Sure.”

“Okay.” Ford spoke up, gripping their rifle a little bit tighter. “I’ll take the lead.” 

“And I’ll take the flank.” Bentley said, head held tall. “Let's go.” 

The three of them fell into a small group formation which Felix and Locus had used all the time with Siris, one which they had undoubtedly taught to the respective armies on their own without consulting the other on the matter.

And then Felix thought of his partners, one in the grave and the other drained and ill on the Tartarus, and he got  _angry._ So angry that it bubbled under his skin, that same heat that had been there two days before when he’d dragged himself into his partner’s room.

It made his blood boil in his veins.

Felix crouched down lower in the bushes as the three soldiers drew closer, all of the chatter from before gone.

The three walked down, with a certain sort of carefulness obvious in the way that they moved around. Felix waited patiently the whole while, some amusing idea bubbling up in his mind as he waited.

Only once Ford was six feet from him did Felix decide to make himself known. It was only a matter of time before the orange on his armor got noticed anyhow. Didn’t make him like the color any less.

“You know—” Felix said, grinning as he stood up straight and stretched, putting on the laziest, most uncaring show that he could. He leaned against a tree and slipped a knife down into his palm as quickly as he could before tossing it in the air. “Just a word of advice.”

The three soldiers stopped dead in their tracks, and Felix could practically taste their fear. It was  _delicious._ He caught himself beginning to salivate, no thanks to fucking Krampus.

“ _F-Felix?_ ” Ford gasped, already trembling in their armor.

“Yeah.” He grinned across at the kid, even though they couldn’t see it with him wearing a helmet. “So you know, that much radio chatter? Not good form. Never know who could be listening. Especially when it’s meant to be secure.” 

“What do you want?” Bentley rushed into action, leveling his battle rifle on Felix. “And how long have you been listening?”

Felix clicked his tongue. “Yeah, so—” He smirked. “Even if I  _wanted_ to tell you, you aren’t very good at asking questions and I’m not really in a mood to teach some kids how to do an interrogation properly.” He caught the knife by the blade between his pointer and middle fingers. “I’m really not in a mood to fight, you know? And I would  _really_ appreciate it if you stopped pointing that thing in my face.”

“You’re our  _enemy!”_  Portia protested, raising a shotgun and pointing it at him as well. “We should kill you now!” 

Felix couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him. “I would  _love_  to see you try.” He flipped the blade again, one easy flick of the wrist all that it took. “But, you know, I really can’t afford to waste too much time on a playdate with you. I’m sure you’re all good kids, and whoever assigned you to a squad has a  _real_ twisted sense of humor, but I don’t have the time for this.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Ford shouted at him. Felix grinned behind his helmet and let the blade fly toward Ford, where it embedded itself in their New Republic issued armor but not deep enough to actually hit flesh. 

If Felix had ever seen someone piss themselves in fear, he was pretty sure that he’d just seen it.

Portia opened fire, which Felix blocked as quickly as he could with the hardlight shield in his armor before it began to feel almost as though his body was acting of its own volition. Fire burned under his skin.

He charged Bentley, who had stayed surprisingly patient and threw himself onto the soldier. The kid went down, caught unawares and Felix caught him by the neck and hauled his helmet back by the ridges above the odd cyclops-like visor. Felix made sure to bare the kid’s throat and even briefly considered removing his helm just for the fun of it. That was always guaranteed to get under his victim’s skin.

The other two went still and silent, while Felix flicked out yet another knife. He didn’t need much to make threats. On Chorus he didn’t even really have to put in the effort since he’d gained  _such_ a great reputation.

A well earned one, too. And to think, the people of Chorus didn’t even know half of the shit that he’d done.

“Alright.” Felix stood up tall, grabbed onto Bentley’s rifle, and kicked the kid away from him. He stumbled toward the other two. Might as well try to keep things interesting, Felix figured.. “So, who wants to go first?”

“Go… first?” Portia asked, clearly nervous about something.

“Yeah.” Felix replied. “Don’t be so eager to volunteer.” 

“What would you have us do?” Ford asked, their voice wavering and afraid. “Because we’re not going to sell out our people just because you’re here!”

Felix rolled his eyes. “Wrong answer.”

_You don’t actually want anything from them._

One of the kids looked like they were about to gasp something out.

“No.” Felix said to both Krampus and the young soldier at once. “I’m just going to kill you.”

Felix didn’t give anyone else a chance to get a word in edgewise before he threw the second knife, which sliced into Ford’s shoulder. The kid opened fired and Felix used his shield to deflect once more before he flung himself at him.

Ford went down, and Felix actually made the decision to wrench their helmet off.

Ford had brown freckled skin and scared amber eyes. They stared up at him.

Felix dug his fingers into the kid’s throat, and considered. He could rip their head off, he could dig his claws in ( _claws?)_ and tear their esophagus out. Nobody really  _needed_ a windpipe. Not when they weren’t going to be alive for much longer any damn way.

And these kids  _definitely_  weren’t going to be alive for much longer once he was finally through with them.

The kid let out a gasping, almost wheezy sort of breath as Felix’s grip tightened on them more. He smirked and looked up at the other two, almost like he was going to just try and bait them to action just so that he could see what happened next. It was stupid, but he didn’t care. He was having  _fun_. It had been too damn long, too.

 _Why do you play with your food?_  Krampus asked him.  _You could use your strength now . You could prove your power now, but you play with them. You toy with them._

Felix’s lips twitched and he locked his visor with Bentley’s. “You know,” he sighed. “It’s no fun when you don’t try to put up a fight. Your friend is going to be killed here—” Felix dug his nails into the kid’s skin, and felt the blood well up under the sharpness of his nails. He’d never remembered them being  _that_  sharp, but he’d drawn blood with Locus two nights before.

He didn’t intend to lick the blood off of these kids.

Unless Krampus was just  _into_ that. Which Felix wasn’t doubting since the demon seemed to be really into the idea of uncooked meat on the whole.

The one to fire a shot at him wasn’t Bentley, like Felix had been expecting. It came just off to his right, from Portia’s shotgun.

Felix barely got the shield up in time, not fast enough to stop one of his shoulder pieces from getting clipped by a pellet or two. He’d have to make sure that the paint was intact later. In his mind, the order in which he killed the kids changed.

“Please, stop—” Ford gasped in the one second that Felix allowed them to breathe. “We don’t—”

“Know anything?” Felix asked, pressing a blade into the kid’s neck. “Who ever would have guessed? Really couldn’t have been any more obvious.”

And suddenly there was something about the encounter that almost felt trivial and boring to Felix. Like he was just wasting a bunch of time on some shit that wouldn’t matter.

Felix drove his dagger into the back of Ford’s neck between the vertebrae without even thinking of it, and felt that pain in his jaw intensify. He (perhaps stupidly) grit his teeth against it and threw the dead soldier at Bentley, just long enough to ensure that the boy would stay distracted.

He turned on Portia.

The girl stared him down for a moment, locked her gaze with his, and turned and broke into a sprint, heading down the path that she, Bentley, and Ford had taken. Felix glanced over at Bentley, and grinned just as the boy took off as well.

He could let them get away with little more than a scare, Felix figured. But that wasn’t any fun for him.

Of course, he could take after them on foot and probably keep up for a while before ending up losing them. 

Or…

Felix watched the kids go, made a note of the general direction, and simply walked back to the Mongoose that he’d taken. He climbed on top, started it, and made sure to rev the engine nice and loud before he set off down the same trail.

The kids didn’t take long to come back into view. Felix managed to spot them the same way that he had spotted every other Fed hiding in the bushes. Whoever had suggested that they wear those stupid pearly white sets of armor hadn’t had even the slightest idea of what was actually useful in the field.

In the snow it wasn’t so bad, Felix knew that firsthand. But the problem was that they weren’t always  _in_  the snow.

In the jungle underbrush, the white was a beacon. Obvious. Blatant. A walking target.

Felix trained his rifle on one of the helmets, bowed low and down between the kid’s knees like they were panicking.

He put one bullet straight through the temple, without even having to go through the effort of really aiming.

Someone needed to teach these Fed kids to stop wearing ceremonial armor for the day to day shit. It made them too easy to kill.

Of course, Felix knew why  _that_ never changed though. It wasn’t exactly a secret. The same way that the security exploit in the Fed’s helmets that severely needed to be fixed was never changed.

Felix stood back and waited for a moment, doing his best to ignore the ache in his jaw that once again started up. Hargrove didn’t offer dental, the bastard. So Felix figured he was out of luck as far as taking care of it went. 

Whatever  _it_ was.

“So.’ Felix said, stepping forward through the underbrush toward the scared young soldier. ”Which one of you three is left?“

The soldier in the bushes stood up slowly on what Felix could only assume were shaky, nervous legs.

He cocked his head to the side.

“Bentley.” Felix snorted. “Figures it would be you, doesn’t it? You are the one that seemed like you’d put up a fight.”

“ _What do you want?”_

_What do you want?_

_“_ Easy.” Felix snorted as he removed his gloves, perhaps stupidly. “I want to kill you.”  He wanted to feel Bentley’s blood on his hands. He’d never wanted to have that sort of thing before, but there he was, apparently craving and desperate for it. It would feel  _good._

Bentley stared up at him from behind that cyclops visor of his. Felix leaned in, grabbed the kid by the chest piece, and hauled him to his feet with one motion that  _should_  have taken a lot more effort than it did to pull off. The kid didn’t even get a change to try and get away before Felix looked down at his bare hand.

Felix didn’t know what possessed him to do it, but he shoved his hand through Bentley’s visor by some sort of miracle, some sort of sudden burst of strength he hadn’t felt before.

His fingertips brushed against the boy’s face before he dug his nails into the boy’s right eye. His fingers curled and his nails bit in before Felix was pulling the organ free with some small difficulty.

Felix kept hold of Bentley the entire time. Couldn’t have the kid getting away from him after all.

He looked down into a single brown iris, and then back to its former owner.

His fingers dug in deeper, and Felix’s hand clenched so that the bone that made up the orbital socket crunched under them.

One last thrust of his fingers further into the kid’s skull, and Bentley was dead.

Felix wrenched his hand free of the cyclopean visor, ripped off the kid’s helmet, and tossed it into the bag strapped to the back of his Mongoose.

He didn’t even bother to put his gloves back on until after he was at base.

* * *

When Felix washed his hands at the base, he realized that his nails were longer than they had been when he’d left the Tartarus that morning.

When he looked in the mirror and opened his mouth to try and see if there was an obvious source for the jaw pain that had been hitting him all day, he found that he had fangs. 

Felix silently resolved to cut his nails once he was alone and try to keep people from noticing what was going on with his teeth. No way he was going to file that shit back down. 

 _You’re changing._ Krampus growled in the back of his mind.  _For the better. You are stronger._

He was definitely stronger. Felix just wasn’t sure how good any of it actually was.


	6. The Universe's Shittiest Dental Examination

Come morning, Felix saw Locus once more and found himself utterly _relieved_ to see that his partner was looking healthier than he had the two days prior. Less like he’d picked up a bad case of Space Flu or like there was a chance that a handful of his organs were beginning to fail spontaneously. It was a small comfort that told him that he hadn’t managed to _completely_ fuck over his partner.

That said, he _had_ leaned the night before what it felt like to have to pick brain matter out from under his nails. Locus being better was a mixed blessing, since Felix _still_ hadn’t managed to get that bullshit out of his head.

“Hey, Locs.” Felix greeted his partner over a mug of intensely shitty instant coffee. “Good to see that you’re looking a little less like hell.”

And of course Locus nodded along like there was nothing wrong, but he eyed Felix in an odd way. In a way which Felix had grown way too accustomed to. It was like there was a question in Locus’ mind that he didn’t know how to voice, or a suspicion. Something that was just _off_ enough that Locus didn’t know what to do with it.

Locus turned away from him and silently stalked his way over toward the coffee pot where he poured himself a mug of the nasty black coffee. Felix sat back and waited patiently. They were going to have to end up talking about some shit or the other. Approaching on his own only had the chance that Locus would end up locking up on him, which definitely wasn’t what Felix wanted at all.

After a moment, Locus finally spoke. “The files you brought me yesterday weren’t of any particular use.” Locus said, still facing the coffeepot. Probably referring to the shit that Felix got out of the helmets belonging to the trio of soldiers he’d killed the day before. Had to do something to make that little side project come off as worthwhile.

“Eh, I’m not surprised.” Felix replied with a casual wave of his hand. “Was there anything we could use?”

Locus poured his mug, carefully, too steadily. “Nothing up to date.” He answered simply. “Or that we weren’t already aware of. I’d assume that your targets didn’t have the security clearance for anything more.”

“And after all the trouble I went through.”

 _It felt good._ Krampus growled in the back of Felix’s mind. _You know it._

 _“_ Shame.” Felix finished, hopeful that Locus wouldn’t have noticed the fact that he’d paused for so long. Talking over Krampus just tended to cause him headaches, Felix had learned quickly.

Locus nodded along, but he radiated skepticism. Typical. Of fucking course he did.

“Felix—” Locus sighed, turning back to him once more, albeit slowly. Still considering something. Still probably caught in his own head. Whatever it was, Felix hoped that it was something that they could clear up easily.

“It was a fluke.” Felix told him, leaning back in his seat. “I cleaned up after myself. Chorus probably doesn’t even know that the kids I got those files off of are gone yet. And I don’t think they’ll be able to find the bodies anyways.”

Locus frowned. “If you’re certain.”

“I am, _christ,_ always with the questioning.” Felix frowned. “What about you?” He jabbed as Locus took his place across from him with his coffee mug in hand. “How was slacking off yesterday?”

“I got some valuable work done.” Locus said, annoyed. “Since you’re so keen on _ignoring_ your desk duties.”

“I got into this business to be a mercenary. Kick ass and take names while getting a giant fucking paycheck for all of it.” Felix hissed back at his partner. “Not to be doing _fucking paperwork_.” He glared across at Locus. “You’re better at it. I don’t see why I have to.”

“Because Control demands accurate logs and data.” Locus responded. “And we need to maintain our own personnel and inventories.”

“You’re still better at it.” Felix muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “I mean, I don’t think I know the names of any of our men. How many of these assholes do we have because they committed a petty theft once ten years ago?”

Locus frowned. “What matters is that they're able to fight.”

“ _Still!_ ” Felix waved his arms. “I miss when we were working with actual fucking soldiers. Partners and shit. People that actually knew what they were doing beyond the basics of how to hold a gun.”

Locus nodded along, and Felix wondered whether or not he really understood. He probably did. It just wasn’t something that the two of them talked about. Not since it happened, not ever.

Siris’ ghost hung in the air between the two of them. Neither of them would acknowledge it. It was easier to stare across at each other and ignore it.

Locus stared down into his coffee for a too long moment, considering. “You’ve looked through our personnel files?”

“Some of them.” Felix grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest. Better to hold himself together because at least that way he’d be semi restrained with things. “Can’t say I was impressed with what I _did_ manage to get through. Since when did we have a guy named Gates? And I thought we had a guy named Darnoldson?”

“Darnoldson isn’t a real name.” Locus paused, eyed him. “And we’ve never had someone named Gates.”

Immediately, the offense bubbled up in Felix’s chest because of it. “ _What?”_ He leaned in toward Locus, almost dangerously close. “ _Since fucking when?”_

Locus stared across at him, unimpressed. He took a breath and then repeated, slower. More deliberately. “We’ve never had a Gates.”

Felix grit his teeth as the urge to _rip Locus’ throat out of his mouth_ overwhelmed him all at once. The asshole was pretending like he didn’t fucking exist, and the only other one that knew that his name was Isaac Gates was the fucking _demon_ living in his head.

Clearly, Locus was fucking with him. The fucking asshole.

“Right.” Felix muttered, crossing his arms over his chest even though ti did nothing to help calm him. “You’re so full of shit.”

Locus looked up at him, his expression as impassive as ever. Felix glared back at him, lips pulled back into a snarl of sorts.

Locus stilled. Felix thought for a second that he almost looked like he’d just seen a ghost.

“ _What?”_

Locus took a slow, almost nervous breath. “Are you alright?”

“ _No!_ ”

Locus glanced away. “Right.” He mumbled. Locus took his coffee, his datapad, and left Felix alone at the coffee table.

 _He’s figuring you out._ Krampus hissed in his mind, sounding almost like the demonic asshole was laughing, the fucking asshole. _That you aren’t yourseif._

“Wrong.” Felix hissed into his coffee. “He’s just being an asshole.”

* * *

 After that meeting over breakfast, Felix didn’t see any more of his partner until late in the evening, after everyone had already eaten and Locus had disappeared off to his own room for the night because the idea of eating with other people made him want to die or something. Felix wasn’t _entirely_ clear on it.

He let himself into Locus’ room since he knew that Locus wouldn’t get too angry at him as long as he didn’t mess with his shit. _If_ Krampus was correct and Locus _was_ figuring something out, Felix had absolutely no intentions of letting it be too obvious on his end. For that reason, he wasn’t allowing himself to talk to Krampus out lout. He wasn’t trying to find ways to take care of the still weird, still constant, still basically nonsense uncooked meat cravings that he still hadn’t found a way to kick.

Unlike the last time, when Felix let himself in Locus was already there. He was sitting on his bed in just his under suit instead of at his desk in full armor. It was different for Locus. Too comfortable, almost. Relaxed, even. It was bad enough that Felix couldn’t help the immediate worry that there was something wrong.

“Hey.” Felix greeted him. He crossed the room and dropped down into the chair at Locus’ desk. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Locus said, bent over a small pile of folders. Felix craned his neck slightly to get a good look, only to end up feeling like he’d just shoved a finger in an electrical socket at the realization that Locus was reading the files about the Temple of Night he’d been given days before.

Either reading them for the first time, or re-reading them because he was onto something.

Shit.

Felix frowned. It was better to get Locus’ attention and try to pry an answer out of him than to speculate and try to figure the asshole out. “So you’re just going to sit around reading?”

“It's an important part of our job.” Locus mumbled as he closed the folder, slowly— almost carefully. “Did you need something?”

“I wanted to spend time with my partner.” Felix scoffed. “Is that so bad?”

Locus raised an eyebrow and looked at him expectantly. His grey eyes slipped shut for a moment, the way that Felix had long learned to associate with Locus trying to compose his thoughts so that he could say something out loud which managed to be somewhat intelligent. Either that or Locus was doing his best to stop himself from just straight out punching him. The two looks tended to be a little too similar for Felix’s liking.

“Felix.” Locus said quietly. “i’m not certain that I’m up to it. Or that I should right now.”

“Why not?” Felix hissed. “The pirates know to keep far away from here. It’s not like anyone will notice. ”

“Are you sick?”

The question came completely out of nowhere. Bad enough that Felix froze up. No way that Locus wouldn’t have noticed it, either.

Locus was onto something. Felix didn’t know whether he was onto the thing where Felix had a demon living inside of him, but he was onto _something_.

Felix scoffed. “If I am it’s because I picked something up from you.”

“That's not what I mean.” Locus grumbled, eyes cast low. His hands balled into fists at his sides, and for a second Felix wondered whether or not he had to be worried about getting thrown out. It sure as hell wouldn’t have been the first time that it happened where Locus took him and physically _threw_ him out. He just really didn’t want for that sort of thing to happen _again._

Felix leaned back in the desk chair. “Then what _do_ you mean?”

Locus opened his mouth and closed it again. Swallowed. Felix could watch the way that he worked his jaw as he tried to find his words. Probably aware that whatever he was about to say was going to sound crazy. Locus had always been sensitive about that shit, as far back as Felix could remember. At least as far as the war. Maybe even before it. Felix didn’t know all the details, but even when he’d first met little Sammy Ortez the guy had constantly been second-guessing himself. Worried.

But Locus, his partner— a man far from young Samuel Ortez, _did_ eventually speak, even if it only came after too long of him trying to figure it out.

“You’re acting different.” Locus offered. “And you seem..” Locus’ voice trailed off and he shook his head.

“I seem _what?”_

And whatever it was that Locus _was_ thinking it seemed to go abandoned. Locus stood up and approached the bed, reached out and let his left hand slide around to cup the back of Felix’s head. It was so familiar that Felix nearly slid forward out of his seat so that he could get down to his knees in front of his partner.

Before he got a chance though, Locus was shoving his hand up onto Felix’s face and pushing his mouth open a little more roughly than had ever been part of foreplay for the two of them in the past.

Locus was definitely in the process of _trying to pry his jaw open._

“What the—” Felix hissed as Locus’ thumb pressed against his teeth, almost as though Locus was trying to _push_ them back through his gums and up into his skull. _What the actual fuck_.

Locus’ eyes widened and he pulled back from Felix immediately, the almost familiar grip that he’d had on Felix going with him. He pulled back away from Felix to the point where there were suddenly several feet between the two of them where there hadn’t been any space between them before.

Locus looked _scared_. Guy had always had a shitty poker face.

Felix shot Locus the dirtiest look he could muster and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand so that he could clear the spittle that had dribbled out during Locus’ invasion.

His teeth scraped along the back of his hand.  Angry red welts raised in their place.

Felix glanced down at them, and it took him _long_ moment to realize what was wrong.

All of the little scrapes that had appeared on the back of his hand were thin. Too thin for any to have come from his incisors. Felix’s face screwed up in confusion and he reached up to touch his teeth. His index finger brushed over his left canine. Felix drew it across the front to only find that all of his teeth had become pointed.

On one hand, that explained the hell out of his jaw pains the day before.

On the other, _what the actual fuck._

Felix pulled his hand away, just as confused as Locus seemed to be. He took a breath and looked up at his partner, not sure how he was ever supposed to be able to explain this one away since it was so damn weird. There had to be a way, but jumping straight to “I’m possessed.” didn’t seem like the best way to do it.

Not with Locus. Never with Locus.

Locus stared back at him.

God how Felix _wished_ he could just explain it all without making himself sound like he was going crazy.

He took a breath. “So that's new.”

“Felix—” Locus said, still drawn back like he had been since Felix had batted him away. “ _What happened?_ ”

“I didn’t do it myself if that’s what you’re asking.” Felix scoffed. Locus knew that he had a taste for body modifications, and Felix had more than a few tattoos to prove it. But this was something that had specifically come up. Tooth stuff had always been too weird for Felix to ever consider actually going in and trying. Locus _knew_ that, too.

Locus’ brow furrowed. “Then who did?”

Felix opened his mouth to try to explain. “Look, let’s just say that it’s a long story.”

“ _That isn’t a good enough answer.”_

“I know.” Felix’s eyes widened at his own admission. “But nothing ever really is good enough, is it?”

Locus let out a breath, calming himself. Obviously calming himself. “If this is something that could jeopardize the mission—”

 _Tell him._ Krampus demanded, loudly and strongly enough that Felix couldn’t exactly ignore it.

“Fuck, okay!” Felix waved his arms in the air as though he were trying to wave away Locus’ concerns. “But if I tell you, I need you to promise not to get all fucking—”

_Shit._

_C word._

Under no circumstance could Felix _ever_ use the C word with Locus. Not if he didn’t want to become on the receiving end of a particularly spirited beating on Locus’ part. Felix had personally seen far too many shattered kneecaps happen because of the C word.

He took a breath and tried to distract himself from it. He needed a different word. Focusing on how the current word didn’t work didn’t fucking help. It just made shit worse because Felix really liked the idea of keeping his kneecaps intact.

“Look, just promise me you’ll keep your shit together.” Felix finished with finally. There. That was less likely to make Locus lose his shit. Maybe.

Locus’ frown deepened, since he’d no doubt figured out what Felix was doing his damndest to dance around for both of their sakes.

“Fine.” Locus  conceded. He put some space back between the two of them, something which Felix was glad for because that way he was less likely to feel like he was being suffocated while tried to explain things. Locus placed himself back in the bed once more, and Felix considered trying to join him for a second.

Bad idea. He remembered too well the way that he’d been ready to jump Locus’ bones for hours and then had left his partner so drained afterward.

Instead he got up to pace once Locus was settled.

There had to be a way that didn’t sound completely insane.

“Okay.” Felix took a breath and walked to the bed anyways to remove the folder Locus had been reading from the bedspread. “You’ve been reading this?”

“Obviously.”

Dumb question. Right.

“Do you believe it?” Felix prodded. Might as well start with the easy questions. Work up to the real weird shit gradually.

Locus raised an eyebrow.

“The… demon thing.” Felix waved the folder around, like it might have jogged Locus’ memory. “Do you think there is really a demon being kept at the Temple of Night?”

Locus’ head dropped. Already probably expecting to be called crazy for whatever he said. After a too long moment, Locus allowed himself an answer. “I’ve been considering it.” He finally said. “Given the information that has been passed along to us I found very little to suggest that what we were given is inaccurate.”

It wasn’t quite what Felix had been expecting. Locus always tended to be more skeptical.

“You went there.” Locus said, more statement than question. Felix had told him when he’d gone planetside to try and see what was there. “You never confirmed nor denied the reports afterward.”

So maybe Locus _was_ figuring it out.

“Sure didn’t.” Felix replied. “But in my defense, you never bothered to ask. I think you were too busy, what, mooning over Wash?”

Locus scowled. It was kind of a low blow.

Felix shook his head. “You want to know what I learned there?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

This was it.

 _Tell him._ Krampus hissed once more.

“It checked out.” Felix finally said after a moment too long. No reason not to rip off the bandaid when it was all crazy sounding to begin with. “The demon thing.”

Locus leaned in,  like he was _intrigued._

“So I thought it over for about twenty seconds.” Felix shrugged. “Figured that it might have been a good idea for us to take advantage. I mean, I had a key so I _could_ use the Temple. And it was better to beat the Reds and Blues to the punch on this one.”

“I doubt they would have pursued it.” Locus responded, dryly.

“I know.” Felix scoffed. “Point is, I was offered a contract. Demon’s helping me until this whole thing is over with. I didn’t think it was really worth bringing up, but since I’m apparently going through demon puberty or something—”

“ _Felix.”_

“I decided to hold off until I knew what was going on.” Felix made a point not to make it too obvious that he didn’t really know what was actually going on either. “The way I see it, it’s a tool. Once it’s over things will be good.”

“That’s—”

“Brilliant?” Felix grinned, hopeful.

“ _Reckless.”_  Locus unapologetically cut him off. “Entering into a contract with a demon, if it matches most understandings of what a demon is, is _reckless.”_ Somehow, Locus managed to frown deeper than Felix had ever seen him frown before. “You won’t be able to escape without some sort of payment.”

Felix rolled his eyes. “Because I definitely wasn’t already going to hell when I finally die.” He muttered. “Didn’t seem like there’s much collateral that a demon could have over me. I mean, considering the whole—” He waved his hands vaguely. Everything that they were doing on Chorus. That was a good enough explanation.

“Your body,” Locus pointed out, “Apparently.”

And sure, Felix _guessed_ that the asshole had him there since his body _was_ changing. He wasn’t happy about it at all but it was kind of the hand that he’d been given to deal with. Felix shook his head though. If the demon wanted something from him, names, souls, bodies, or otherwise, it probably had to be somewhat proportional to whatever the Demon ended up doing by the end of it.

And he was asking the damned thing to help him with a genocide. His body changing or being taken away from him seemed _far_ too simple. Of course there was more to that shit.

Locus stared at him, like he was looking or something in Felix that Felix never intended to figure out. Felix let out a breath. “Okay, so maybe it was reckless. But the way that I see it, we use the demon, we get results, we get our paychecks and buy up enough minority shares that we just own Charon. And then we work from there.”

And because Locus was Locus, all he did was radiate a feeling of being unimpressed. Fucking asshole.

Felix rolled his eyes. “And I get a mahogany desk, and a new car, and a tv the size of a billboard. You can use you money for whatever you use your money for. The point is that if we take advantage of it, we have smooth sailing for the rest of our time on this planet, and then the rest of our lives after that. This is a _good_ thing.”

He allowed himself to draw in close to Locus, to rest a hand on Locus’ shoulder. If he were anyone else in the universe, Felix knew that Locus would have tensed up under his touch. But he was himself, so Locus never did. Because Locus trusted him, more than he had ever trusted anyone or anything in his entire life.

“All I need you to do is be willing to play along.” Felix offered, dipping his head down so that his chin brushed against the side of Locus’ head. “That’s all. You do that much, I handle the rest. Including whatever price I have to pay.”

“And when it’s not you anymore?” Locus asked, voice surprisingly hoarse.

“Then you can go.” Felix replied. No reason to make Locus feel so obligated to stay beyond the contract and the mission. “I’m just asking you to stick with me.” Locus’ hair was soft. “Partners.”

“Partners.” Locus repeated, the only confirmation that Felix had ever needed from him.

He pat Locus’ shoulder. “Now—” He said. “Why don’t we relax instead of arguing over this shit, huh?”

Locus eyed him skeptically, but scooted to the side and gave Felix the room he needed to climb into bed with him anyhow.

It was an invitation Felix took all too happily.

* * *

Two hours after, Felix dragged himself off to a shower since Locus had made it obvious enough that he wasn’t welcome in his bed anymore until he did so.

He felt stronger. Like there was heat and warmth thrumming under his skin that he couldn’t ignore.

Once he felt he was clean enough and dried off, Felix crawled back into bed alongside Locus and tucked himself in at his partner's back.

When he raked his fingers over Locus’ skin, it left tiny raised welts where his nails had grown into points.

Felix ran his tongue over his sharpened teeth.

In the morning Locus would be drained again. Felix wasn’t sure that he cared, but it was for the better that he kept his shit together for both of their sakes. If he didn’t, Locus would only end up exhausted and weak.

And worse, Felix _knew_ that it was only a matter of time before Locus figured out why he kept on getting so exhausted in the way that he did.

Felix gave it a couple days at most before his partner put it all together in his head.

He’d deal with it then.


	7. I Accidentally Passed On A Christmas Themed STD

First thing in the morning, Felix met Locus in what had been turned into their war room. The truth was that it was most likely a former break room that had been used by the Tartarus’ guards. That didn’t matter so much though, since it was the room where they got most of their planning done. 

Locus showed up in full armor, even though it wasn’t strictly  _ needed _ in the moment. Really, the asshole was going completely overboard since it was just a planning meeting. Felix didn’t want to comment on it too much though, if only because taunting Locus into taking off his helmet would lead to Felix seeing how pale and sallow he looked underneath. 

But it was a meeting, one which was meant to be fairly routine at that. That meant that Felix had made a distinct point  _ not _ to reach out to Price, or to any of the squad leaders that he and Locus had chosen to be in charge of the pirates. For most meetings, they would have brought in at least one of them since it was technically their mission too. But it was always up to Locus and Felix to take the lead on things. 

And as a leader, Felix felt that it was completely within his rights to blow off as many of his inferiors as he wanted. 

Above the center of the table in the middle of the room was a projection of Chorus. Felix leaned in close to it, scanning over the holographic image in search of  _ something _ but not being too sure what he was actually looking for. There had to be something. Mostly, it just looked like a planet. Not even that much like the planet that he could see if he bothered to peer out the observation bay windows down at the actual planet. 

It was more miniscule. More meaningless than even that. 

Locus took a seat just across from Felix almost silently, a move so relaxed that it could only mean that he was exhausted or otherwise not feeling like himself. 

Felix eyed him. He’d known that he’d end up with his partner drained again, and yet he’d rushed into shit again. Goddamnit, he was stupid. What the hell had he been thinking?

Clearly, he hadn’t been thinking at all. He’d been thinking with his fucking dick. Again.

Locus looked up at him, just a slight bob of his head before it lowered back down again. 

_ Shit.  _

Definitely not feeling right, then. Planning and working around Locus being off was a pain in the ass. Especially since they were running out of time before the whole mission ended up imploding on them entirely.

“So—” Felix scoffed. “We’re really doing this, huh?”

“Yes.” Locus mumbled. “We should start with a plan. SInce the armies and the Reds and Blues are all stationed in underground bases since the destruction of Armonia—”  His voice trailed off, almost like talking was enough to leave him exhausted. “We can’t afford to waste any more time.” 

Felix nodded. “I know.” He muttered. “Shit’s fucked right now. Armonia really fucked us over—”

_ It got you a working sword.  _ Krampus told him, even though Felix  _ knew _ that shit perfectly well, and getting the sword off of Doyle was what had made it possible for him to summon Krampus in the first place. 

Felix would have thought that a fucking  _ demon _ would have known better than to state obvious bullshit like that. Apparently not.

“And we need to be quick, since Hargrove’s  being such an impatient asshole.” Felix frowned and leaned in toward the map, just a little bit closer. Still, he had no idea what he was looking for. “What are your guys on planet saying? We wouldn’t be here if you didn’t have a lead.”

“Their forces have been scattered across the planet.” Locus supplied. He reached out and typed something in on the small display next to the table which ran its controls. A series of red dots appeared on the map, including one larger blip which had a location that Felix recognized immediately. 

“Crash Site Bravo, huh?”

Locus nodded. “Our intelligence suggests that is where the Reds and Blues are now located, in addition to Vanessa Kimball.”

And  _ of course _ it had to be Crash Site Bravo. That fucking shithole. Christ.

And  _ god _ Felix almost regretted that he’d gone through the trouble of making that useless plot of land into a defensible hole in the ground. All because he’d had to play nice and make friends with the Reds and Blues. Now that shit was probably about to come back and bite him in the ass hard. It fucking figured. 

He supposed there was an upside in that he knew the surroundings well enough. Still made the whole thing fucking bullshit though.

Felix nodded along. “What about that Purge thing Sharkface brought up before he bit it?” He asked, blinking and staring across at Locus. It was something that they’d considered, but hadn’t done much of anything with just yet. Only problem was that they were sure that the Reds and Blues knew about it too. 

Locus frowned. “Risky.” 

“If it works we win.” 

“If it works, we kill everyone on the planet including our own men.” 

“And killing our own men means a bigger paycheck for me, so excuse me if I fail to see the downsides.” Felix scoffed. A heat crawled up his spine, too fast, too hot, too consuming. His eyes slipped shut and he cocked his head to the side like it might have been enough to make the sensation go away, but it did nothing. His lips drew back from his teeth in a snarl, though he made no noise. 

Locus stared across at him, a slight tilt to the angle of his helmet that communicated that he was curious. “What’s happening?”

“Nothing.” Felix mumbled. “Asshole’s getting excited is all.” 

Locus blinked. “You can tell?” Interest crept into his voice.

“Yeah.” Felix muttered, rubbing at his left eye with his palm. It did nothing to assuage the sudden wave of weirdness that had just washed over him. “Just feel hot.” 

“Is that why you’re in civilian clothes?” Locus asked, except now he just sounded exasperated. Fucking asshole.

“Nah.” Felix laughed. “Just didn’t feel like putting on armor yet.” 

Locus continued to stare at him, the weird bastard. But he did eventually nod along and look back to the map. “I still don’t like that you’ve chosen to involve yourself with it.” He said, his voice too low. “But I suppose that it’s too late for that to matter now.” 

“Yeah.” Felix smirked. “I guess it is, isn’t it?”  _ Checkmate, asshole _ .

“Don’t gloat.” 

“Just saying.” Felix laughed at his partner. “It must really chap your ass knowing that I did something like that without you knowing.” He glanced back up at Locus and couldn’t help but feel a slight stab of guilt. The guy was obviously not doing too hot. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to see it. Asking would have been a bit too much and Felix knew it. 

Locus was obviously trying to play along like everything was fine. It was so fucking obvious but Felix just knew him too well.

Felix shook his head again, like that heat in his spine had gotten to be too much. “The Purge would be easy.” 

He  _ really _ didn’t want to just say that he was pretty much certain that Krampus really liked the damn thing. Felix wouldn’t have been surprised if Krampus and the Temple of Night and the Purge were all connected. Alien shit was always weird, and Felix wasn’t completely clear on how demonic Krampus actually was. There was a part of him that wondered if he was just glorified malware or something. 

But that wouldn’t explain the fact that he had fangs and claws now, so Felix dismissed it. 

Malware. Fucking stupid idea.

Locus eyed him. “The Purge would be easy.” He mumbled. No denial there. Just reluctance because he didn’t like the flavor of killing their own men. Figured. “We need to work with accurate information. And be sure of our decisions—”

“So?”

Locus sighed. “What can your demon actually do?” He asked. “Aside from change your teeth and nails?”

The heat got too strong, and Felix felt an unmistakable urge to lash out and  _ hurt  _ Locus. To sink his claws down into Locus' neck, to rip out his windpipe, to make him bleed and suffer. It would be so  _ easy. _ All he had to do was lunge and he would have it. So fucking easy.

_ Do it. _

Felix balled his hands into fists and felt the points of his nails cut into his palms, probably bad enough that they were going to draw blood. 

“I don’t know.” He muttered. Still hadn’t managed to get much of anything useful out of the bastard. Krampus was really mostly a massive pain in the ass. Even if he had let Felix do some pretty sweet shit. “Why?”

Locus let out a heavy, tired breath that managed to get filtered by his helmet. “I’m going to contact the leader of the expedition that originally went to the Temple of Night.”

Darnoldson. Not  _ that  _ asshole again. 

“And?”

“And we’re going there to get answers. Once we know what we actually have for an asset in your…  _ demon _ , we'll plan around it.”

Felix smirked. “If you’re sure that's what you want to do.” He said with a slight eyeroll. “I figure we can see what happens, huh?”

“Yes.” Locus said. 

_ Your partner won’t get stronger by going to the Temple.  _ Krampus insisted, tugging at the back of Felix’s mind. 

“I know.” Felix hissed under his breath. 

Locus gave him a weird, confused look. 

_ He won’t let it rest, will he?  _ Krampus asked, almost huffing.

“No.”

_ Then eat him. _

Felix looked at Locus head on then, and he couldn’t help but blanching slightly. 

“No.” He replied. “Better not. Should just go down and see what happens.”    
  
Locus mumbled something under his breath, but Felix didn’t manage to catch it. Locus shook his head and slinked away from him, probably planning to go back to the files that they’d been given originally so that he could pore over them until he found something that he thought might have been useful. Felix knew that Locus was  _ probably _ pissed but didn’t want to say anything about it. It was probably only a matter of time before Locus decided to go snapping at him and just telling him to shut up. 

The files though. Felix  _ knew _ those files. Locus wouldn’t find anything there. Certainly not anything that would actually be of use, at the very least. The least he could do was save his partner from wasting his time.

He sighed heavily, since he knew that he needed to do something to assuage Locus’ concerns. He wasn’t becoming a demon. Even if he  _ did  _ become a demon, Felix didn’t know how much it would actually hurt his market share in the long run. 

He knew plenty of people that would have been happy to thigh fuck a demon. He just didn’t know if Locus was one of those people. 

The repressed bastard. 

“You’re not going to take no for an answer with this, are you?” Felix prodded. He already knew the fucking answer. But he still had to ask. 

Locus nodded. “I’m going to acquire a Pelican for us to take planetside.” He said. “And arrange a Warthog for when we arrive.”

And  _ god, _ how Felix wanted to demand they took a mongoose instead since it was just the two of them. It had nothing to do with wanting to be pressed up against Locus' back while they drove. Absolutely nothing at all. 

God the constantly feeling horny thing was fucking with him.

“Fine.” Felix groaned. No getting away from it now. 

_ Perhaps you can convince him to let you feed.  _ Krampus suggested to him.  _ Once he knows more. _

“Yeah.” Felix scratched his scalp, brushing his hair back. He was pretty sure he was going grey. “Sure thing. Let me know how it goes.” He said to nobody in particular. 

Locus didn’t even spare him a weird look. He simply began the walk down to the vehicle bay to see what they could do short of hitting Chorus via orbital drop. 

Which Felix could be glad for. Mostly because orbital drops sucked.And that was one of the few things he and Locus had  _ always _ agreed on.


	8. Open Houses Are For Cowards, But The Free Snacks Are Pretty Great

Deep down, Felix knew that he shouldn’t have been surprised at all to find that the Temple of Night was exactly as it had been when he’d first left it. 

And yet, he kind of was. So much had changed since he'd first picked up Krampus that a part of him partially  _ wished _ that the Temple of Night itself had changed. But it hadn’t. It was just as horribly empty, as vast as it had been when Felix had gone there. 

The lack of noticeable change, more than anything else, was what made Felix absolutely certain that Locus’ demanded trip to the Temple of Night was going to turn out to be a massive waste of both of their time. They’d end up with the exact same cryptic bullshit that had been in the file that had made Felix go there in the first place. 

Not exactly the pinnacle of progress, that.

But Felix  _ did _ know his partner. He knew that the asshole could be a lot of things, but when Locus got something in his head he was always dedicated to figuring it out, or sticking to it. Locus was single-minded like that. It was how the whole armor bullshit had managed to get so out of hand. Felix was also pretty sure that Locus’ focus was how he’d managed to stay in his partner’s good graces for so long. 

What Felix had learned over those many years working together was that it was usually better to just give Locus the space to handle his fixations than it was to interfere with them. Usually. The armor thing was one where he probably  _ should _ have interfered, but it was a little too late for that. 

It was one of those times that it was best to let Locus do his thing, though. 

So Felix stood back as Locus delved in, though his partner’s pace and movements were somewhat sluggish. He’d really have to make sure that his partner wasn’t rotting from the inside out some time. Make sure that he wasn’t fucking things up beyond repair because he wanted to keep getting laid. Because goddamn, did he not want to stop getting laid anytime soon.

Locus scowled and looked back at him over his shoulder, from just beyond the entrance to the Temple itself. 

“Are you coming?”

Felix ran his tongue over the points of his teeth. Still weird, even days later. “Yeah.” He said, with a slight click of his tongue. “I’m just pretty sure that this is going to end up being a waste of time is all.” 

_ You could let me speak to him. _ Krampus suggested to him, and  _ that _ was possibly the absolute dumbest suggestion that had been made in Felix’s presence to date. Letting Locus talk to the demon that was living inside of his head… that was a bit too much. Just a shred too invasive for Felix to ever be able to allow for it.  _ I could clarify some of these matters. _ Krampus urged on. 

“Not happening.” Felix replied with a roll of his eyes. No way in fucking hell. Locus heard him though,  stiffened and glanced back at him over his shoulder, but said nothing. Thankfully said nothing. 

_ I am able to speak through you. Should you allow it. _

Felix would never allow it. Instead of dignifying Krampus with a response, Felix just went in after Locus and fell into place barely two steps behind Locus, the same way that Locus would have if their positions were reversed. The same way that always happened whenever the two of them got into a situations where neither were completely sure of themselves.

“Do you want the grand tour or something?” Felix asked, waving his arms to gesture to the space around the two of them even though Locus couldn’t see it. “Because this was  _ all  _ that there was.” 

Locus stopped in the center of the room. He turned slowly, back to face Felix once more. “This was it?’

“Yeah.” Felix shrugged. “Didn’t really talk about it being just the one room in the document much. No way to go up, no balconies, if there’s a way down I didn’t see it.”

_ There is none. _

Felix snorted. “And I’m being told this is all there is.”

Locus nodded along. “How did you contact it?” 

“Sword in the stone.” Felix pat the key where it rested on his thigh. “Opened up something like the bullshit for the trials. Just you know, a little less horrifying. Considering.” 

Locus tensed up immediately at the mention of Santa’s Nightmare Trials, tightened his grip on his gun like he was expecting a fight. Felix drew in close and pat his partner’s shoulder, just enough to ground him. “Probably not opening it.” He assured Locus. “When I went in Krampus told me that there was only the one here. So we don’t have to worry about the Reds and Blues getting at it.” 

“It’s name is Krampus?”

“I named it.” Felix replied. “Because the Reds and Blues named the alien AI Santa.”

Locus stared at him disapprovingly, and went silent for a moment too long, before he pulled himself away from Felix’s touch with a fluid motion. Not good enough to make Felix feel confident that Locus was okay, but fluid enough to be convincing that Locus not being about to drop dead.

“And that was all?” Locus asked. Felix could practically feel the disappointment rolling off of him in waves. 

“Yup.” Felix popped on the P. “Sorry. Hate to disappoint. Guess you would have had to have been there if you really wanted in on the fun.” 

“What you did was still reckless.”

“At least we have it on our side, right?” Felix scoffed, feeling a slight itchiness on his collarbones where the injuries had shown up a couple days before. Some perfunctory research had told Felix that the word  _ stigmata _ was technically correct to describe the phenomenon. Which was pretty fucking weird since he’d only seen that shit in horror movies. “Better us than them.”

Locus didn’t seem convinced. Unsurprising, really. 

“I don’t like that we are planning to make this fight with incomplete information.” Locus said, pensive and clearly unsure of himself. “What happens when this all backfires?”

“Uh—” Felix paused, since he knew he  _ needed _ some sort of answer if this was going to work. Without an answer Locus was more likely to fight him on shit. “Obviously, you get off scott free. I’m thinking we use whatever kickass demon powers I end up with and we take down Hargrove ourselves. We take our paychecks, he’s off our backs forever, less incriminating evidence all around. And we rid the universe of some corporate scum while we’re at it. ” 

“I seriously doubt that will work.” Locus deadpanned. He crossed his arms and turned on his heel, the way that he always did when he was close to beginning to pace. It had been a long time since Felix had seen Locus pace over  _ anything _ . It could only mean that the demon thing had really managed to get its way into Locus’ head. Not good.

Felix shrugged. “Never know until we try it, right?”

Naturally, Locus didn’t answer. He just stared down at the strangely unweathered floors beneath his feet, apparently deep in thought. “There just has to be something.” 

“Of course there’s  _ something _ —” Felix began, unsure of where he was actually going to go. There was only one thing that he’d gotten out of Krampus which was actually concrete. It was also the number one thing that he could think of which would cause Locus to  _ absolutely lose his goddamn shit _ . 

And it was all he had. 

“There is a way to…” Felix began, treading carefully. “To improve the abilities. I guess you could say.” 

Locus looked over at him, attention assured and given. 

That was good enough of a start, Felix thought, so he decided to keep on going. “It’s possible to feed on someone else’s life force. I mean, it took me killing three people to end up with the teeth and the claws, but only after I’d already tried to bolster my power.” 

The atmosphere was positively frosty. Too late to abort mission, damn it.

Locus glanced over at him, jaw tense and expression severe. “How have you been doing that then,” he began. “Exactly?”

Felix chose then to focus on the floor instead too. Easier to deal with than how completely pissed Locus definitely was since he’d figured it out. Fuck, why did his partner have to be smart? This was all going to shit and there was only so much that Felix could say or do. 

“You already know.” Felix crossed his arms over his chest, not proudly. More like he was trying to hug himself and hold himself together because he was certain that Locus would do something stupid. If he ended up brained against the wall within the next hour, it wouldn’t have been any sort of surprise, suffice to say. “I don’t need to tell you.”

Locus was silent for too long. Out of the corner of his eye, Felix watched his hands clench and unclench. Almost like he was testing his strength because he  _ knew _ that it had been waning. Even if he was upright and moving, that didn’t necessarily mean that he was at 100 percent perfect working order. And they both knew it. 

So Felix did the only thing that he could do. 

He waited for Locus to say  _ something. _ Or get on with killing him. Whichever the big guy decided he wanted to do first. Really, Felix wasn’t sure that he would have blamed him for either reaction, all things considered. It was pretty big shit to keep hidden.

Locus stepped away from him, slowly. First only one step, but then it was followed closely by another. Felix couldn’t pretend to be surprised by any of it. He just stood his ground, his arms crossed over his chest, and waited. 

He didn’t know how long he actually waited before Locus finally did something. 

“How long?”

“Since the first time you…” Felix’s voice trailed off. “Got sick, I guess.”

Locus nodded, clearly displeased but not about to lose his shit. Yet. “And you kept doing it?”

_ “ _ Yeah.” 

“Were you planning on telling me?”

“No.”  And it was the honest truth. Felix didn’t know how long he could have gotten away with it, but he’d been fully intending for it to stay a secret until long after the Chorus job was completed. Always, if it had been an option.

Again, Locus nodded along without giving away anything which could have given Felix an idea what was going on in his head. It made him want to pry the asshole’s helmet off just to make sure that Felix could read him and look at his stupid expressive face.

After a minute too long, Locus turned on his heel and headed out of the temple. He slowed at Felix’s side, caught his gaze, and spoke. 

“We’ll discuss this on the ship.” 

And god, if  _ that _ couldn’t have sounded any worse, Felix didn’t know what would have. 

* * *

 

Considering what the two of them had talked about at the Temple of Night, Felix knew, he  _ knew _ that he shouldn’t have been surprised by Locus’ choice to go radio silent afterward. He knew for a fact that if it had been him, he would have been pissed. Beyond pissed. Explosive. Angry. Violent.

As soon as they’d gotten back to the Tartarus, Locus had seemingly invented an excuse to get away from him. Which had left Felix with his dick in his hand because he had  _ nothing _ to do. Not that he could blame Locus for being pissed. They were birds of a feather at the end of the day. 

Still made him feel like shit. Which granted, he probably fucking deserved.

Still sucked.

Sure, he could have done paperwork, but Felix had  _ also  _ done more paperwork in the last week than he had over the course of his entire life— his days going to school included. There was no way that he was going to get caught doing paperwork. Especially not willingly. Not when he’d already done so much so recently.

So Felix had instead decided to make himself feel less like shit using a long soak in one of the two bathtubs that were tucked away in what had once been the staff quarters on the Tartarus. The staff quarters that were now functionally his and Locus’ private apartment. Not that Felix thought that the privacy was bad. It was  _ very _ nice. 

And besides, it wasn’t like the space pirates had done anything to deserve better treatment than what they got. The communal showers were a punishment for repeated failures to get results. That was what it was. Felix wasn’t selfish.

The water was warm and comfortable, but against Felix’s skin which always felt so damn  _ hot _ Felix didn’t know whether it was actually scalding and he just couldn’t notice. All that he knew was that the steam rose off of the hot water, filled his lungs and left him feeling clean every time that he exhaled. 

Not completely clean. Nothing could ever get him back to good, but  _ god  _ if the physical feeling of it wasn’t nice. 

He lost track of time, laying there and just talking to the demon in his head about nothing in particular. At some point his cock began to wake up, but Felix was so calm and sated that he didn’t even want to fucking bother. If he did, he would have only ended up ruining it. Felix was mostly certain of that. 

Being comfortable was more important.

A knock on the door roused him. It made Felix pick up his head and ignore the way that the tips of his hair had just barely managed to get wet. He cracked his eyes open and glared at the door. He halfway expected for Sharkface to be the one to come in— at least, up until the moment that he remembered that Sharkface was dead. Killed in the attack on Armonia. 

Stupid bastard.

“Any idea who it is?” Felix asked Krampus, but got no reply. Fucking figured. He rolled his eyes, turned his head toward the door, and snarled at whoever was on the other side. _ “What?” _

The door cracked open, and a moment later his partner was stepping through. He still wore his undersuit and helmet, but the rest of his armor had been abandoned. Felix could only guess that meant that Locus was getting ready for bed. He was weird like that. 

Locus was the only person in the universe that Felix had ever met that preferred to sleep in his undersuit over regular fucking clothes.

Locus stood there in the doorway. Felix shivered at the cold air that he was letting in when it touched his skin. “Well, are you going to close the door?” He asked. “Because I’m really not sure that I think that our little pirates have earned seeing me naked. I’m sure that the dumb bastards would love it, but I’m  _ really _ not into it. I’ve seen what they look like.” 

It was maybe a bit harsh, but it got the message through. Locus closed the door behind him nearly as silently as he’d opened it. Locus strode further into the room, and Felix couldn’t help but wonder if his partner had come for a rare booty call. He wasn’t usually one to initiate, but Felix could be  _ very _ into the idea. 

Locus seated himself on one of the benches, several feet away from Felix. Far enough away that the no-touching policy that he’d come into the room with in mind was clearly communicated. 

Felix leaned back against the tub wall. “What’s up?” 

“I’ve been thinking.” 

“Well, that’s never good.” Felix scoffed, scooping some water over his chest. Pleasant warmth washed over him. “Do I want to know?”

Locus was quiet for a long moment. And then: 

“Did you think that what you were doing was working?” Locus asked. “When you… used me?”

Felix shrugged. “Yeah, I think so.” He muttered. “I don’t think I could have ripped a kid’s eye out of its socket with just my fingers if I hadn’t. Definitely couldn’t have broken the bone there.” 

Locus gave him a  _ very _ odd look, the first reminder that Felix had that told him that Locus hadn’t known the details about that. It had been for the better, at least at first. Suddenly, Felix wasn’t as sure. He glanced over at Locus over his shoulder, and then sighed. He should have fucking told him back when all of that shit happened.

“Probably wasn’t worth if when you went out of commission every time I did it.” Felix watched his partner, carefully. He wasn’t holding himself as carefully as he had earlier. But still, Felix almost worried because of it. “You holding up alright?”

“I’m better than I was.” Locus replied. “I’m just trying to form a protocol around your… predicament.” 

“You say it like I’m pregnant.” Felix deadpanned. “And I’m really not.”

“I know.” Locus said. “But we still need to plan around it.”

Felix blinked. “I’d hoped we’d just roll with things.” He leaned back against the wall of the tub again. “And see what happened.” He was too comfortable to really consider throwing Locus out. A part of him almost wanted to invite him in so that the two of them could enjoy themselves more. Not that Locus would ever accept the invitation again. 

“I know.” Locus grumbled, apparently oblivious to Felix’s own conflict. Probably a good thing, Felix figured. All things considered. “That’s how you always are.” 

“Not  _ always. _ ”

Locus gave him a dirty look. “Always.” He repeated, apparently not able to be swayed on the issue. 

Felix tilted his head back and let his eyes slip shut. “I really don’t know what you want me to say. There’s a way to make this work better than it already is, we just have to be willing to  _ use it _ .” He frowned, for just a half second. “And by we, I mean  _ you.  _ I’m pretty much always down when it comes to us.” He went quiet, because it  _ was  _ the truth. Even if he’d been a shit lately about all of it, he was still always up for Locus. He just didn’t know if that was still true on Locus’ end of things. 

Locus eyed him, wary and quiet. He let out a low breath and Felix  _ wished _ that he knew what he could have said to his partner. Nothing ever would have come to mind and he knew it. That was the problem with what they were. 

He let out a slow, heavy breath. The kind that it seemed like Locus had been holding for ages. 

“You are confident that it was working?” Locus asked. 

“Yeah.”

“Confident enough you’d stake the mission on it?”

_ That _ was one that Felix hadn’t exactly gone into much depth considering. But it had felt so good, being able to rip those kids apart with his bare hands. He’d felt elated in ways that he never had before. It had been  _ amazing. _ If that was what just a taste could get him, then he sure as hell could stake the mission on the little method of borrowing Locus’ life force. 

Besides, getting his dick wet was a nice bonus.

“Yeah.” 

Locus sighed. “I’ll consider.” 

“You’ll  _ consider?”  _ Felix snorted. “You know, if you’re really bothered by it, I’m sure that there’s some idiot pirate on this ship that would be down. Wouldn’t even have to worry about me going overboard.”

If looks could kill, the glare that Locus shot him in that moment would have been enough to kill him five times over. 

“You will not pursue this with our men.” Locus instructed clearly. Not a question. Not even a request. A rare order, handed down from the king of always following orders himself. “And you will not let Price know of this… asset.” 

Felix grinned, impressed. “Really?” He asked. “Not even going to tell Hargrove, are you? Locs, I’m starting to think that your impossibly high standards are slipping.”

Locus gave him a look. “I’m certain that telling Hargrove would be the fastest way for us to lose our jobs.”

And yeah, the asshole had a point. Felix didn’t like anything about working for Hargrove, but it kept money going into his bank account. He got fired, then that shit would just dry up. That was about the last thing that Felix wanted going on in his life. 

“So it’s just between you and me then.” Felix commented. “Even the—”

“Yes.” Locus breathed. “Even that.” 

Felix smirked. “How possessive of you.” 

If Locus hadn’t been wearing his helmet, Felix would have been able to see the hints of a blush darkening his cheeks. “It isn’t possessive.” Locus insisted. “Just practical.”

“Yeah.” Felix snorted, sitting up straight in the tub again. “Sure it is. You tell yourself that, Locus. I know what’s going on.” 

An odd silence settled over the two of them. Aside from the quiet sound of the water sloshing as Felix moved around, there was nothing said. Felix grinned up at his partner. “When do you want to start?”

“I hadn’t decided.”

Felix stretched out in the tub. “Now’s as good a time as any. At the least you can save me on needing to shower later tonight.” 

Locus gave him a dirty look, but he stalked forward anyways, already reaching back to unzip his undersuit. 

The moment that he sank down into the water with Felix, Felix was on him like he’d been left to starve and Locus was the only meal that he'd seen in months. 

And for the moment, Locus didn’t seem to complain. 

How he’d feel in the morning, however… that was a different story. 

Felix couldn’t pretend like he was looking forward to the morning.


	9. The Buddy System Is Only As Good As Your Buddy Is, And My Buddy Is Fucking Awesome

Felix got up early in the morning, unable to avoid the uncomfortable feelings of _guilt_ over the night before, even though Locus _knew_ what was going on and had played along willingly. He still felt bad. That was when it was a reasonable hour of the morning Felix didn’t even bother going to the small room where he and Locus usually ate their meals. He already knew that he wouldn’t end up finding Locus there even if he wanted to.

So instead, Felix went to his partner’s room and found Locus in his bed, tired and quiet and still out of his armor which could only mean that he’d laid awake for some time. He was just feeling so shitty that he couldn’t be asked to rouse himself.

Again, that guilt got worse.

Felix didn’t say hello. He didn’t greet Locus at all really, all he did was drop into bed at Locus’ side and reached out so that he could splay a hand across Locus’ shoulder. It was enough, since Locus turned his head slightly— just barely enough to get a look at Felix over his shoulder. Felix grinned back at him, just as much like he was fucking with him as much as he was apologizing.

“Hey.” He mumbled into his partner’s ear. “You know, I think I could get used to this version of you that likes sleeping in. I think I like him.”

Locus’ tired grey eyes watched him. There was a certain sort of dullness in his gaze that Felix had only seen once in Locus before. It had been a deeply unpleasant time, back during the Great War. Back when what was once _Sam_ had been ripped out of what would become Locus. Back then, Sam had been exhausted to the point where Isaac, no _Felix_ , had thought he’d been close to death. And he had been. They both had been.

But they’d lived. They’d survived.

They always survived when they were together.

Now Felix only could hope that the situation wasn’t so dire. He could only hope Locus was just tired, not dying. He could only hope he’d get his partner back soon.

But his partner reached an arm up to rub at his eyes, sleepy and almost cute. As cute as Locus was capable of being, anyways. “I don’t like sleeping in.” Locus protested quietly. “But right now I’m just… too tired.”

“Well I feel great.” Felix said as he squished himself in against Locus’ back. He all but wrapped himself around Locus’ body, finally able to bask in both the warmth under his skin but also his partner’s presence. “Slept fucking fantastic too.”

Locus nodded, but he didn’t seem convinced. At least, that was what the tilt of his head into his pillow and facing away from Felix said. Felix still felt pretty guilty about all of it, but they were so close to being done. They were going to finish this war shit, and that was it. Once it was over, they could rest and he could stop leeching off of Locus for as long as he needed.

And he’d get his paycheck. Felix was really looking forward to his paycheck.

Felix fully expected for not leeching off of Locus to get old, though. At least if he wanted to continue getting laid it would.

He stretched out a little bit further, since he didn’t see any harm in making himself comfortable. Locus’ bunk had been a second bunk of sorts to him in the past, there was no reason that it should have been different in that moment. The only thing different was that the two of them were older, and that Locus looked a little bit like he was going to fall apart at the seams.

Not that Felix thought that he would.

“Planning on getting up anytime soon?” Felix prodded, almost curious because Locus sleeping in was still an odd thing. Even back when they _hadn’t_ been surrounded by the trappings of military life, Locus had been an early riser. In the close to two decades that Felix had known his partner for, he could only remember a handful of times in which Locus had slept in. Most of them had been because Felix had insisted on it.

The rest had been over the course of the last weeks because Locus had simply been too weak.

Felix doubted that Locus’ sudden flirtation with sleeping late was going to be enough to ever change his partner’s stance on the matter. Once he was well again he’d go back to unholy early risings.

Locus closed his eyes though, taking in a deep breath as though it was the only thing that had any hope of keeping him tethered to the ship. “Soon,” he replied, but he didn’t sound as though he had any confidence in the matter. “Once I can…”

Felix raised an eyebrow. “What’s the damage?”

“I just feel drained.” Locus said, eyes still closed. Felix wanted him to open them. Even if he knew that he’d end up seeing that dead, dull look in them, Felix wanted to see them. “Soon.”

Surely there had to be _some_ sort of solution, Felix thought.

_Feed him._

Krampus’ voice coming up so suddenly and so early was enough to make Felix jolt in surprise. Asshole had gotten quiet on him the last couple of days.

But… the suggestion wasn’t bad. Asshole even had a point, for the first time ever.

Felix hauled himself up. “I’m gonna get you some of those weird rations of yours. The million calorie ones?”

“Four thousand.” Locus protested. It was an argument that he knew that he wasn’t going to be winning.

“Whatever.” Felix snorted. “I’m going to get you some. When’s the last time you ate anyways?”

Locus didn’t give him an answer, which Felix really didn’t find surprising.

He scoffed and turned on his heel before he began on the trek down to the little dining area that they shared in hopes that he could find something to feed his partner. MREs and coffee. That would do the trick. That had always been the shortcut to getting Locus moving.

The dining area was blessedly empty— the one perk that had come from Sharkface’s offing. They didn’t have to share anymore, aside from Price. And Price didn’t seem to come to their mealtimes anyways. Not that Locus came to them either, but that was for other reasons. Locus-y reasons.

Felix found Locus’ rations tucked away in the back of a steel cabinet, in a cardboard box which had definitely once carried shotgun rounds. Locus was nothing if not pragmatic.

He flicked through the drab plastic packets in search of something which sounded breakfasty enough. It wasn’t a surprise that none of them were breakfast options. When it came to Locus’ weird MREs, there couldn’t be normal options.

However Felix _did_ find it surprising that there were four packages labeled as being “Mexican Chicken Stew”. Either Locus was hoarding the tastes that reminded him of whatever home he had once had, or the ones that should have reminded him of his old home and family (whatever those were, Felix had never pried and in return Locus had never asked about the Gates family— it was just better that way.) were unpalatable. More unpalatable than MREs already were. Whichever.

Felix considered for a moment and reached for one of the packages of “Mexican Chicken Stew.” He stared at the olive packaging, wondering whether he could just bring it up to Locus as it was or whether he should prepare it himself first.

On second thought, if he just brought it straight to Locus, there was nothing stopping his partner from preparing his fake ass food with the shitty chemical heater in the packet. And the chemical heater was always a pain in the ass.

The least that he could do was spare his partner from that bullshit.

So Felix tore open the drab plastic packet with his teeth, and dumped its contents out onto the metal table in the middle of the room. Which of course only meant that he dumped out a plastic packet to end up with more plastic packets to sort through.

It figured.

The first thing to go was the plastic cutlery and the tiny packet of toilet paper. The plastic cutlery because he knew for a fact that Locus had better in his room. The packet of toilet paper because they were on a ship and could do better. If Locus ended up hoarding them for when he was down on Chorus, that was his business. Felix sure as hell didn’t. His ass deserved better than single ply.

The instant coffee was next, because that was yet another area where Felix knew for a fact that they could do better. It was also the one thing Felix knew Locus would agree with him on. It was the reason that they each kept a steady supply of the good stuff on hand every time they got a chance to restock.

After that, Felix was left with the packets of actual food. Or, whatever was meant to pass for food.

He searched through the cabinets and eventually found a clean mess tray. He dropped it down onto the table and tore open the packet with the alleged stew inside. Inside, the internal packet was waiting to be dropped into chemically heated water and cooked. Felix instead decided to seek out a proper pot that he could use (the best he could manage was a small saucepan that had been beaten to hell and back— if Felix had to guess, it had come with the ship.) and he cooked the stew on the stove. The same was true for the packet of rice.

The tortillas were the one thing that wasn’t _actually_ trying to fit with the Mexican food theme of the packet, since tortillas had been used for centuries in space flight since they tended to be crumbless. 500 years of space travel spent feeding soldiers and explorer’s tortillas. A grand tradition which Felix _didn’t actually care about._ He just tossed the two tortillas haphazardly on the plate, along with the packets of peanut butter and grape jelly that that came with them.

It left him with nothing to do, since all that was left of the meal was what he’d already decided to dispose of. Felix leaned back, bracing himself with his hands on the surface behind him. The metal under his fingers was oddly ridged.

It was only then that he realized that there was something wrong about it. He stood up straight and glanced back, only to find that his pointer finger on his left hand was in direct contact with the stove burner. The burner that was _on_.

And he’d felt _nothing._

He jerked his hand back by instinct. When he glanced down, his skin had only grown angry and red, but he felt no pain. As though he hadn’t actually been burned at all.

Felix flexed his hand shut, unsure of what to think. It had the potential to be extremely useful. Also the potential to be extremely dangerous.

He waited for the rest of Locus’ breakfast to finish cooking, got his partner and himself two mugs of coffee, and went back up to Locus.

On the way up, he spent the entire time grilling the demon on his head on what all of that shit was about.

Unsurprisingly, the answers he got were vague at best and cryptic at worst.

* * *

When Felix got back to Locus’ room with his partner’s breakfast in tow, he found Locus was dressed, but dead on his feet. Already preparing for the two of them to leave so that they could head down to Chorus and really get to work. Apparently Locus had no intentions of letting himself get stopped from carrying out the mission any longer.

Which was good, in theory. But also fucking deadly if he couldn’t get his shit together.

“At least tell me you’re going to fucking eat.” Felix muttered as he set the tray of food down.

Locus eyed him, but approached anyhow. He stared down at the segment of the tray where the Mexican chicken stew was with a frown.

Apparently the reason Locus didn’t touch the stuff wasn’t nostalgia. Felix made a mental note of it, since it would come up again eventually. Probably.

Locus did poke at the meal though, even if he radiated distaste toward it. He did seem more pleased with the mug of coffee, so the attempt wasn’t a complete loss on Felix’s part. Being a partial failure was always better than being a complete one, at least in Felix’s point of view. Things could have been a hell of a lot worse. At least that was for sure.

For the entire time, Felix simply chose to sit across from Locus and nurse his own mug of coffee.

“So what’s the agenda for today looking like anyways?” Felix asked his partner, even as he stole a quick glance at the clock. It was still early enough that they hadn’t accidentally derailed things for themselves. “How long before we take a ship down?”

“One hour.” Locus replied. “It’d be in our best interests for the two of us to leave sooner.”

“Figures.” Felix snorted. “There’s still time to enjoy this shit though, right? Because I wasted a lot of time trying to get this together for you.”

“Yes.” Locus said, his eyes slipping shut. Any other day the asshole would have been itching for them to leave as soon as possible. But he was so tired that he probably needed the extra time if he hoped to be even halfway useful later on. Probably took flight time into account while he was at it.

Maybe if they were lucky, Locus would manage to be mostly rested by the time they made it down to Chorus. If he wasn’t, they were going to have other problems to contend with. Ones which Felix wasn’t particularly thrilled about having to go through.

Sure, with the strength that came from Krampus’ boon, he could probably handle things well enough to make up for both of them. He just really didn’t want to be in that position. If that was where they ended up, then they might as well have already lost. Going on without Locus was as good as losing before they even started. Felix _needed_ Locus there. The same way that Locus needed him there.

Either they went into things together, or they lost. That was how it had _always_ been.

If Locus needed his breakfast and their flight time to rest, then Felix would do his absolute best to give those things to him. It was the only way he could work to keep their partnership going at the moment.

Besides, Felix told himself, if he left Locus on the Tartarus alone he’d probably end up terrorizing the guy that they’d chosen to man their armory. Nothing the pirate could do would have ever been enough. And Felix had walked in on the poor asshole several times in the past, always scared shitless and looking a little manic trying to follow Locus’ orders.

It was better for the sake of troop morale to take Locus with him down to Chorus. That was all there was to it. It was purely a strategy of preservation. It definitely had nothing to do with Felix wanting Locus with him. Not at all. Purely pragmatic.

So Felix made himself comfortable, nursed his coffee, and stole a scrap of tortilla since he hadn’t bothered to get himself something to eat. Not that anything seemed to do quite enough to satisfy him anymore. Not anything that he was _actually_ willing to eat, at least.

And yet his little demonic friend continued to insist upon freshly killed meat.

 _I ensure you that it is good._ Krampus retorted to him as Felix nibbled on Locus’ tortilla. _Your lack of interest in attempting to try it will only drag you down._

“Nah.” Felix said to the demon, out loud. Locus raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a _weird_ look. Felix answered him with a simple gesture— two fingers curved away from his head like little horns. Locus nodded and watched him, but said nothing else. “Not trying it.”

“What’s it suggesting?” Locus asked, curious. Concerned. One of the two.

“It really wants me to start eating raw meat.” Felix said, almost too matter of factly. “But I’m guessing that demons can’t get tapeworm or something. Because I’m not risking it, thanks.”

Locus nodded along. “It would be better to avoid it.” He said nonchalantly. “For your own sake.”

_It would be good._

“Thank you.” Felix grinned across the table at Locus. His partner only shrugged and went back to poking pathetically at his weird breakfast.

It was probably better than nothing, Felix figured.  

* * *

Almost as soon as their breakfast was finished, Locus and Felix commandeered a Pelican so that they could fly down to Chorus. They were halfway down when a transmission came in from one of Hargrove’s science unit assholes about the Purge thing that Sharkface had told the two of them about.

They’d located it in person using the maps that the two of them had gotten. And it was accessible.

It was ready for the two of them.

Felix’s skin tingled at the thought of it. His heart beat a little too fast. His palms felt like they were about to sweat through his suit at any moment.

He and Locus were _so fucking close_ to being done with the shitty little planet that was Chorus that he could _taste_ it. Within hours he could be back on the Tartarus with Locus, the two of them flying their way home so that they could get paid and take out Hargrove if the mood struck.

He’d get to eat an honest to god real food meal and take a hot shower and sleep on sheets with an absurdly high thread count. He’d get to fuck Locus in a soft fucking bed, he’d be able to stop having to put on armor every day. He’d get to sleep the fuck in. He'd get to wear clothes that made him look good. He could get haircuts regularly. He could spend absurdly large amounts of money on coffee.

He’d get to stop having to deal with goddamn space pirates. That particular idea alone was enough to make him ready to moan in ecstasy.

That feeling of elation was dashed though. It was dashed against the oddly glowing stones that surrounded the Purge which reminded Felix too easily of the Temple of Night. Because _of course_ they couldn’t have things go well.

Things going well was something that just wasn’t fucking allowed to happen to him and Locus. Apparently.

Which was bullshit. They deserved to be done with Chorus after years of putting up with the planet’s bullshit.

Because of course, naturally, those Freelancer _assholes_ had to be there to just fucking rain on his goddamn parade. That wasn’t to say that Felix wasn’t kind of interested in the challenge and it made his blood boil in a rather delightful way. He was just pissed off that he actually had to go through with a fight.

The Purge was supposed to be an easy fucking win. Twelve seconds in there and they were done.

He caught a glance in Locus’ direction, just enough to make sure that his partner was still there with him. That he still had his head in the game enough that they could fight.

That he wasn’t about to collapse at any second. Which was probably the more important thing, all things considered.

Locus glanced back at him, still in his active camo. The Freelancers definitely knew that the asshole was there with Felix, but if it gave Locus a chance to lie low, Felix didn’t mind. Maybe he’d be able to get his way to the top of some of the stones in the area and provide assistance at a long enough range that he could stay safe. No matter what Felix felt or thought about Locus, the asshole had always been one hell of a sniper for as long as the two of them had known each other.

Good enough of a sniper that Felix didn’t _need_ to spot for him anymore like he had once before, years before on a different god-forsaken rock.

But if they were there to play, the the only choice that they had was to play.

They touched down and made the walk to the Purge. The Freelancers were already there, standing on a hard light bridge in front of the Purge because of course they were.

“Well look who it is.” Felix grinned a pointed smile behind his helmet. “What brings you two to the neighborhood?” He eyed Carolina suspiciously. There was no way she wasn’t planning to use the AI. “Or should I say three?”

“We could ask you the same thing.” Washington spoke up. “But all of us already know the answer to that.” He stared past Felix’s shoulder, at the spot where Locus was standing. Asshole had to have seen the shimmer from Locus' active camo. It was the only way that it made any sense. “No reason to stay hidden. We know you’re here.”

Felix scoffed. “Yeah, you see, my partner’s never really been much of a people person. I mean, can you blame him?” He smirked. “You know how it is. Introverts. Weird. And Locs here is about as weird and introverted as they come.” He shrugged in feigned nonchalance. “What I’m saying is that it’s nothing personal.”

Felix could practically _feel_ Locus’ frustration rolling off of him, just over his shoulder. Not surprising, but Felix intended to hide Locus’ weakened condition for as long as he could manage. There was no way in hell that he intended to give the Freelancers that sort of upper hand. Not when there was a chance that they would kill what was rightfully his.

And wow, he’d never felt _that_ way about Locus before. What the actual fuck?

Washington looked over at Carolina, and Felix imagined that he was asking her something over their shared comms. Whatever it was, Felix wasn’t really fond of the idea that he wasn’t getting the Freelancer’s undivided attention.

Really, he was a guest. Ignoring him like that was just rude.

A brush of his partner’s elbow against his own managed to ground Felix, at least enough that he didn’t just go completely off the handle at the two Freelancers. It was as much an attempt to comfort on Locus’ part as it was a clear reminder to Felix that they needed to get a move on. The longer they stalled at The Purge, the more ways that the idiot Reds and Blues could show up and ruin it.

More than they’d already ruined it, at least.

Felix put on his most confident smile— even if nobody else could see it, it made _him_ feel better.

“Now look,” He began. Doing something was better than doing nothing… even if that _something_ that he ended up doing was exactly what his partner hated for him to do. “If the two of you wouldn’t mind, me and Locus have some shit that we need to do and you’re kind of in the way. I mean shit, you two play nice and we won’t even have to make this hard.”

 _Playing with your food_ , Krampus commented, completely without any invitation, _and yet you never seem to take a bite._

Again with the weird food shit. Felix was a lot of bad shit, but the one thing that he wasn’t was a fucking cannibal. He never had been. Although since he was apparently turning into a demon now, Felix wasn’t so sure what actually qualified as cannibalism anymore.

He also just really didn’t want to end up with a tapeworm or some shit because he listened to Krampus’ diet advice.

Felix also really didn’t like that he was spending so much time thinking about the matter.

He and Locus were face to face with their enemies, dammit. He had to be able to _focus_. Not think about how much Krampus liked meat.

“You know we aren’t going to do that.” Carolina spoke up, voice hard and determined. “We know what The Purge does just as well as you.”

“Yes, and we have a _very_ impatient boss.” Felix scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Probably unwise. Smarter to keep a gun close at hand, but he had pockets full of throwing knives mere millimeters away from his fingertips. “So if you don’t mind, I’d at least like to be able to get my paycheck.”

Washington’s eyes darted between the two of them. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He stared past Felix, toward where Locus’ hidden silhouette was hidden. “You can’t possibly want this! It’ll kill everyone on the planet.”

Locus didn’t move to answer. Good thing too since Locus’ voice would be a dead giveaway that there was something wrong. It’d been hoarser than normal for days. And not good gravelly like normal either. Obvious _sick as fuck avoid at all costs vaccinate your goddamn kids_ gravelly. That sort of sick. The sickly croak that only an idiot would be able to miss.

“Yeah.” Felix scoffed, like that would be enough to stop him. He hated his goddamned employees even more than the people of Chorus did. They were space pirates, scum of the universe. Honestly speaking, they probably deserved to be offed. On top of that he already _knew_ half of the people of Chorus. He had never exactly been a fan of any of them. “But we'll be okay.”

“That’s _insane.”_ Carolina bit out at him.

Without even having to look, Felix knew that Locus was losing it. Locus was going to lose his shit, and accidentally overplay their hand, and then the two of them were going to find themselves in deep fucking shit. _Shit_. Of all the things that the fucking Freelancers could have done, why did one of them have to go there?

Why did she have to use the fucking I word?

He checked over his shoulder to see that Locus’ silhouette was _gone._ There wasn’t even so much as a shimmer.

_Shit._

The Freelancers both noticed it too if the way that they dropped into their own respective battle stances was any indication.

Felix grit his teeth and threw himself at the Freelancers, if only because he didn’t want for one or either of them to end up spotting Locus first and end up hurting him instead when he already wasn’t at 100 percent.

He collided with Carolina and knocked her to the ground. They barely grappled for half a minute before he was being pushed off of her and Felix got a chance to look for his partner again.

Now, there was this one _thing_ about active camouflage. Locus knew how to use it better than anyone that Felix had ever heard of, but in moments like the one they were in Locus chose to use it incredibly ineffectively. All because Carolina had _had_ to drop the goddamned I word.

Mainly, being invisible wasn’t very useful when you were holding someone that _wasn’t_ invisible in a choke hold. Not even a very strong one at that, since Washington’s toes were touching the ground.

Felix gave Carolina a look and leveled his gun on Washington’s struggling form.

“Now.” Felix said, standing up straight and doing his best to radiate how completely fucking calm he was. He slid his finger toward the trigger. Locus would be able to take care of himself and get out of the way before he pulled it. “If you two could _get out of our way_ , I might even consider sparing you.”

He checked Locus again. “But my partner might not.”

Locus said nothing, but he kept Washington close, tight, unable to escape. There wasn’t any concern that Felix could end up shooting him. Not even concern that he could be in even a modicum of danger because of just how damn close he was to Washington.

If anything, the only thing that he might have done was tighten his grip.

Carolina swore and let out a breath. “Epsilon.”

The AI appeared at the side of her head. It reminded Felix of his own little headmate that he had to deal with. Felix felt a throbbing sensation at the front of his skull, like he had a migraine setting in and he couldn’t even _remember_ the last time that he’d had a migraine. It had been one of those things that he’d never wanted to go through again. Absolutely fucking skullsplitting.

Why the fuck did he have to have one then and there?

“Yeah?” The little blue AI’s avatar shifted his body to face Carolina, like he could actually fucking _feel_ things and was _real._ Fucking christ, Felix was _glad_ that Krampus couldn’t put himself out there like that. It wasn’t fucking artificial. Not like the goddamn AI. “What do you want?”

“Tell the Reds and Blues to get here.” Carolina instructed, not bothering to check in with Washington. The suggestion made Felix’s blood boil. “ _Now._ ”

“On it.” The AI disappeared and Felix blinked in some confusion. What the actual fuck was happening?

He glanced over at Locus. Grit his teeth inside his helmet, even if it nearly made the pointed tips cut into his lips. “Drop him.” He ordered.

And like clockwork, Locus dropped Washington. Washington fell to the ground in front of him, without a chance to actually catch himself. The Freelancer coughed inside of his helmet. When Felix looked at his partner, he could see the tug of exhaustion clinging to his frame. The Freelancers probably couldn’t notice it.

Felix could recognize it in a heartbeat. A single fucking glance and he could know what was wrong with the asshole that he called his partner.

Washington stared up at the two of them. “What the hell—”

“Look, Washy.” Felix scoffed. “I would _really_ love to stay and chat, but I think that me and Locs have things to do. If you guys are apparently calling down the idiot calvary, then I think we should wrap things up.”

Washington lurched forward just enough to make it abundantly clear that he was about to say something. Probably something stupid, if Felix had to make a guess at it.

Felix let his gaze drift to Locus, let it linger. “I’m going in.” He announced to his partner. “Might want to try and follow me. Stick to the shadows, you know. Do what you do.”

“We aren’t going to let you do that.” Carolina protested. She was leaning back, just slightly. Just enough that she was clearly hiding the fact that she was about to spring.

If the Freelancers wanted a fight, they’d get it.

Felix did the same, that subtle shifting of his stance. All that he needed was some solid ground that he could launch himself off of and even if he was standing on a hard light bridge— kind of crazy, come to think of it. He’d only seen hard light used in small amounts like on his shield. A full bridge was _a lot._

But it was there, just under his feet, solid and strong. Kept up by only the strongest, weirdest alien tech imaginable.

There was a momentary pause, almost like all four of them had stopped breathing. Felix heard nothing, only a growling whisper in the back of his mind which gave him one simple command.

_Kill them._

He sprung into action, and it almost felt like he hadn’t even been the one in control for it. He lunged at Carolina with the key in his hand, gripped as tight as he could because if he dropped the damn thing they were going to have a hell of a lot of problems.

Carolina threw herself back away from him. Felix stepped straight up into her space with a lunge. The sword cut into the side of her gauntlet, but it was a glancing blow. Enough that it would lessen the effectiveness of the armor but not enough that it would be enough to actually shut her down for the fight.

He heard her swear, just as Locus’ body was all but _flung_ into his line of vision. Washington leapt at him and placed himself right on top of Locus, all but straddling him.

Hot jealousy burned through Felix for reasons which he couldn’t even _begin_ to want to comprehend.

Locus put up a fight, but it wasn’t particularly strong. It looked like he was putting his everything into holding Washington off of him. There was _something_ being snarled between the two of them. Felix couldn’t make it out over the rushing of blood in his ears, the anger in his heart, the boiling in his blood—

 _Kill them_.

Carolina collided with him from the left, not even bothering with guns anymore apparently. The kick threw him back several feet. If not for his grav boots, Felix would have gone off the edge and into the fucking lava for sure. He held fast to the bridge though, caught his balance, and tossed himself straight back into Carolina’s space.

After all, all that he needed to be was within stabbing range of her. Whether it came by sword or by knife didn’t matter to him—

_Kill them._

Krampus was nothing if not insistent.

“You know—” Felix scoffed as he kicked Carolina’s ankle in an attempt to slow her down. “Normally when I’m this close to a woman, it’s because I _actually_ want to have some fun. How do you look under that helmet anyways?”

“ _Fuck you.”_ Another kick flew Felix’s way. He ducked down onto the bridge and rolled forward. He ended up just behind Carolina.

“Think you’ll have to wait in line for that.” Felix scoffed as he lunged at her back, driving the sword forward. “Because I’m kind of busy. In case you didn’t notice.”

“I _did_ notice.” Carolina grunted as she did her best to dodge the sword. Not quite far enough, Felix thought as he swept himself in even closer to her so that the two of them were pressed together close enough that they would have been breathing directly down each other’s necks. “And I’m not going to let you go.”

“Well that’s really too bad.” Felix scoffed. “Because I’m not really thinking you have a choice.”

With that he shifted his body weight enough that he was able to knock Carolina off balance. She grabbed hold of his armor on the way down. The two of them landed together on the hard light.

Immediately the grappling began again, and Felix was reminded why that was always Locus’ move.

The reason pretty much started and ended with ‘Felix had been scrawny for basically his entire life.’

In his current predicament’s case, there was a part of him that was fairly certain that Carolina had an easy twenty pounds on him. The armor didn’t help much with that since the two of them were both wearing armor. It only evened out.

 _Use our power._ Krampus reminded him.

Oh.

Well duh.

It was so stupidly obvious that Felix didn’t know why he hadn’t started earlier.

Felix hooked his ankle with Carolina’s and flipped the two of them. His blood was too hot in his veins, and that fucking migraine feeling was back with a vengeance. As soon as he was able to go back to the Tartarus with Locus, once all of the shit on Chorus was done with, Felix was going to be a very happy man. He'd be able to rest and let the  pain from the migraine subside on its own.

On the other hand, he was wearing highly advanced armor and it should have been able to do something for his migraine.

Which meant that it was possible that he was just missing something and didn’t have the time to go ahead and try to figure out what the hell was wrong.

For starters, he had the Freelancers to deal with first.

He glared down at Carolina, leaned forward, and pressed his hand against Carolina’s throat. The undersuit under him had very little give. The gel layer In it could protect her from some things, but not _everything_.

And Felix felt somehow confident that with the demon’s power he could get past the defenses that it provided entirely.

Carolina’s hands wrapped around his wrists. She fought him to try and plant a foot under herself so that she could push him off. Felix ignored it and bore down harder, his grip tightening on her throat. He could practically picture the blood rushing in her veins. The structure of her windpipe as it bowed under his touch.

Little by little, Carolina’s resistance against his attack lessened. She kicked and thrashed, she did everything that she could in the hopes that it might have been enough to knock him off of her. Felix held fast until finally, the resistance was gone entirely.

There was a sickening cracking sound, and the thrashing of Carolina’s body ceased entirely. Felix gave her a shake and her helmeted head lolled backwards.

Dead.

Good fucking riddance.

Felix dropped her unceremoniously and stood back up straight.

He still had a partner to look after. He didn’t have the time to waste.

The only thing was that first he had to _find_ his partner.

He had to find his partner and _hope_ that his partner wasn’t being held at knife point or that he didn’t already have a bullet in him. He had to hope that Washington hadn’t already decided to seek retribution for Carolina’s death.

“Locs!” Felix shouted as he scanned the bridge but found no sign of his partner. He almost ran to the edge of the bridge to peer over to see whether or not Locus had somehow fallen. Normally it wouldn’t have been a concern of his but with Locus barely in commission Felix couldn’t be sure.

Either way, it was all bad. All the exact opposite of what Felix actually needed.

He heard a pained grunt. Felix swiveled around to find the sound and found Locus and Washington, the two of them up on some sort of moving, floating platform and caught up in the middle of a fistfight. There wasn’t any sign of their guns at all.   
  
How long had he been there strangling Carolina?

He didn’t have the damn time to think about it. He’d missed _something_ and he didn’t have any time to figure that shit out before he had to just charge straight into the fight himself. He had to prepare himself to run and jump the second that the platform came around. If he was too late, then he ended up in goddamn lava or some shit.

Not that he knew whether he could burn anymore. Lava was a hell of a lot hotter than a burner on a stove. By a lot.

But the platform came around, albeit slowly. When Felix got up on top Washington and Locus seemed to be in an evenly matched grapple.

Without thinking, he leaped straight into the mix. He landed on Washington’s back, wrapped his legs around his waist, and did what he could to roll the two of them. Just enough to make sure that he was going to give Locus the room he needed to move. That was all Felix needed.

Washington wasn’t much heavier than Carolina was, it turned out. Felix flipped the Freelancer onto his back and pinned him down by the shoulders. Behind them, Locus mumbled something which Felix could only assume was his name. He didn’t bother to give any response, because he and Locus would probably have time to talk later.

Felix sat back on his heels, all while holding Washington down near effortlessly.

The grey and yellow clad freelancer thrashed against his grip and tried to force him off of him.

It only made Felix slam the man back down even harder, almost so hard that he could have heard the helmet crack. Cracking open the helmet from the back was even more impressive than a shattered visor would ever be.

Christ, Krampus made him strong.

“Carolina!” Washington desperately called for his lost partner.

Felix scoffed. “She’s not going to be coming.” He scoffed. Several feet away, Locus stood and did his best to catch his breath. He listened on intently, like they were about to say something which would somehow change everything for Locus. “You see, Washy, she doesn’t have a windpipe anymore. And probably a couple vertabrae. Looks like you’re all on your own.”

Felix considered reaching for the sword at his thigh. One quick pass of the weapon and he could take off Washington’s head easy.

Too easy.

“And I’m feeling nice.” Felix smiled behind his helmet, even though his head was killing him. “So I’m going to give you one last chance. You get out of me and my partner's way, and we’ll let you live. We’ll even drag you inside so that once we use The Purge—” His skin heated up in the under suit. His heart beat too hard against his chest. Strange unspoken excitement thrummed through Felix’s entire body. “You’d be allowed to live. What we do with you after that I don’t know, but this is your one chance. I’d think hard before you decide.”

Washington was dead silent. Felix rolled his eyes and shoved the man’s shoulder down into the platform, even harder than before.

“So.” Slowly, Felix leaned in. Close enough that there were mere inches separating the visors of their helmets. Close enough that he could be certain that his face was the last thing that Washington would ever get to see. He’d already been the last thing that Carolina had ever seen. No reason not to make it a complete set. “I’m giving you a chance. Do you want to live, or not?”

Wash shifted carefully. “What the hell did you do to Carolina?” He growled at Felix. His growl wasn’t anywhere near as impressive as Locus’ was, Felix noted. “What did you do to her, you bastard—”

“I already told you.” Felix retorted. “Now, if you intend on _living_ you might want to shut up, Washington. Agent Washington. What the hell is with you people and the fucking code names?”

Behind him, Locus spoke. “Felix—”

“Yeah.” Felix called back to Locus. “Give me a fucking minute, Locs.”

He glanced back over his shoulder at his partner. Locus was just about dead on his feet. Vibrant red stained the front of his armor. Felix couldn’t tell whose blood it was. The knife in his shoulder was less unclear.

It was also the thing that drove Felix to a decision.

“Locs, you go on ahead. I’m going to deal with this bastard and then I’m going to come in after you. Try not to take too long, got it?”

Locus said nothing, but when Felix looked back over he was dropping down onto the hard light bridge and out of Felix’s line of sight.

Felix looked down at Washington. “You hurt him.”

“What are you—”

“Answer the question.” Felix ordered. “Did you do that to him?”

Washington shook. “ _Yes.”_

It was everything Felix needed to hear.

He took a moment to carefully peel the glove that he wore away from his right hand, and then the left. The sharp claws that he’d gotten in the past days were exposed to the air and Felix was _glad_ that he hadn’t bothered to try and cut the damn things off. If he had, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything nearly as satisfying as what he planned to.

Felix flexed his hand. Open. Shut. Open again. The tips of his nails cut into his skin, deep and sharp enough that blood welled to the surface like he’d been pricked with pins. He already knew what he was capable of when he was actually trying to hurt.

Washington deserved it.

Felix didn’t mind getting blood on his hands. Under his nails would be a pain in the ass to clean up later, but _that_ didn’t matter. He just wanted to get a piece of Washington and pay him back for the knife in Locus’ shoulder at the very least.

 _Nobody_ hurt his partner. Not anyone.

Locus was _his._

Washington’s head tilted oddly to the side. Inquisitive. He’d figured out that there was something off.

It certainly had the potential to make things a hell of a lot more interesting, that was for sure.

For a reason beyond his actual realm of understanding, Felix went ahead and peeled off his helmet. He let it drop down onto the hard light beside him and grinned across at the Freelancer.

“What is it, Washy?” Felix asked, giving him a sharp toothed grin. “See something you don’t get?”

“What the hell—” Washington took several steps back, shocked. Felix couldn’t exactly blame him for it. The Freelancer didn’t even seem to be in his right mind enough to keep his shit together long enough to pull the trigger on the rifle.

Felix sauntered forward, even as Locus began to visibly protest in a way which only Felix could have ever recognized. He got in close to Washington. “You see, Wash.” Felix started his explanation. Always had to get some sort of last laugh in. “Me and Locs, we’ve got tricks up our sleeves. You have your little Ai, but we’ve got something _way_ cooler.”

He gestured to himself. “Case in point.”

Washington’s brow furrowed and his mouth dropped open. “ _You have horns.”_

Horns?

Well that was fucking new.

“Yeah.” Felix shrugged. “I guess.” He allowed himself a moment to pause and evaluate. He opened his hands back up, too aware of the sharpness of the claws that he’d developed.

He raised his pistol and in one easy motion he pulled the trigger. A bullet tore its way through Washington’s kneecap. Felix took the advantage to kneel down next to the Freelancer in the same spot where he’d just fallen to the hard light bridge with a thud.

He stared down into Washington’s visor. “Look,” He said with a grin. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t like people touching my things.”

Washington tried to shove him away hard. “For someone that just killed my partner, you’re awfully—”

“You’re in the way.” Felix pressed his foot down into Washington’s chest _hard_. Hard enough that there wouldn’t be a chance of Wash getting away between his and Krampus’ combined strength. “And I don’t care what you have to say. Whether you like it or not, me and Locus are going to win this. We’re going to kill you, and the Reds and Blues, and when we’re done we’re going to get out of here and live out the rest of our lives.”

Washington gave one panicked look toward the sky, desperate.

Felix rolled his eyes and lowered himself down and sank his claws into the undersuit where it covered Washington’s neck. Blood welled forward and Felix sank in, deeper, deeper. The blood was warm against his skin.  It trickled lines over the surface, lines which began to change and turn bright, burning orange.

A loud rumble echoed through the area as Washington gasped his final breaths.

Felix licked his head up to watch a Pelican collide with the top of the Purge. The summit crumbled and began to fall away.

He didn’t have the time for this shit.

Felix hauled himself back to his feet and before he could think of anything else, he sprinted in toward The Purge to meet his partner inside.


	10. Exercises in Radical Reverse Architecture, or: How To Break Shit

With the Reds and Blues arriving, Felix didn't have the time to spare before he was sprinting his way toward the Purge itself. Inside he found Locus there, pressed against one of the walls at the base since it was probably more safe than standing in a more central area where rubble from above was free to fall and land on top of him.He looked exhausted, dead on his feet. They’d have to do something later to patch up his shoulder.

“Hey.” Felix greeted Locus as he pressed himself in next to him. “Holding up alright?” He was mostly glad to have a chance to catch his breath among all of the chaos. Fighting the fucking Freelancers always took way too long and took way too much out of him.

Locus nodded along though, even if he didn’t say anything. He’d already gone ahead and removed Washington’s knife from his shoulder. Had even bothered to go ahead and treat the injury before it could get much worse. It was small, but it was something that Felix could be grateful for. Small enough that Felix didn’t have any question on whether or not Locus had biofoam left over.

Regardless, he was pretty sure that they only had a few minutes to get The Purge activated before the Reds and Blues came charging in and ended up negating it. And they were the ones that Felix wanted dead most of all. They didn’t have the time to dick around, and since Locus’ injury had been treated, there wasn’t any excuse left for him to stall.

“Krampus.” Felix muttered to the demon in his head. “This had better fucking work.”

 _It will work,_ Krampus assured him. _Activate it._

Felix gave Locus one last glance. His partner hadn’t looked at him directly since he'd come in. He’d have to deal with it later, he figured. The whole having horns thing was going to be a conversation. Not to mention the fact that Felix’s skin had changed color in some places. No way that wasn’t getting talked about at some point.

He waited for the rubble to get to the point where it was a slow fall and he’d be able to dodge it easily. Felix walked out into the center of the Purge and immediately felt his heart _sink_ when he realized that there was something wrong.

In truth, Felix hadn’t spent a lot of time in the actual Temples themselves. Most of the time, his main involvement with the damn things had been seeing whether or not the science unit idiots like _fucking Darnoldson_ were doing things that were _actually_ useful. Like reverse engineering traction beams for them to use. After that it was pretty much limited to nightmare portals.

And Felix really never wanted anything to do with the nightmare portals again. Not for him, and not for Locus either.

 _But_ he did know enough to know that there should have been some sort of central activation console or something.

And he didn’t see one.

Or rather, what he _did_ see had been destroyed by the rockfall from the Reds and Blues crashing into the fucking Temple.

“Mother _fucker!”_ Felix shouted. It echoed through The Purge Temple. His blood boiled. He smashed his fist into the rubble and turned around to stalk toward his partner. The two of them were going to go back to their Pelican, take it, and get the fuck out of there to regroup. Once they were on the fucking Tartarus, Felix would find a space pirate to take his anger out on or something.

But it shouldn’t have been that way. It shouldn’t have been anything _near_ as disastrous as things were turning out to actually be. And of course it had to be because the Reds and Blues were _fucking idiots_ that couldn’t steer a fucking ship. He was personally going to figure out which one of them was piloting the damn thing and filet them himself. Because goddamn, did Felix _deserve_ to be able to take the assholes apart bit by bit after all the shit they’d put him through.

_Meat._

“Yeah,” Felix muttered under his breath. “I know. You’d fucking _like that.”_

He stopped when he was standing mere feet away from Locus.

“Felix?” His partner prompted him, clearly lost. Brain probably hadn’t caught up just yet.

“We’re going back to the fucking Tartarus. Those goddamn _idiots_ managed to break the fucking Purge. I don’t even know how they—” He took a deep breath in the hopes that it might calm him down. It didn’t work. When Felix reached up so that he could push his hair back away from his face, his hand only collided with the ridge of one of his _horns._

“Get your shit together and then we’re leaving.”

“And the plan?”

“We play it by ear.” And god, if Locus started to protest that idea which Felix fucking _knew_ he would, Felix was pretty sure that he was going to get so angry that he ended up having some sort of aneurysm. Which he really didn’t want to have to deal with that day either. “But first, we need to get the fuck out of here before those idiots arrive and find us and their little Freelancer buddies dead.”

Locus was hesitant. When Felix glanced over, he couldn’t help but notice that his partner was _staring_. Not Locus' normal socially awkward staring either.

Locus was staring.

At him.

At the horns on his head.

 _Shit_.

“Look—” Felix sighed. “We can’t waste any more of our time here.”

“Got it.” Locus said. He took a few steps toward the light bridge that had allowed them to go inside in the first place. Outside, Wash and Carolina’s bodies were dotting the bridge. As the two of them walked closer and closer to them, Felix thought that he saw a bright blue light next to Carolina’s helmet for just a second before it disappeared.

Fucking AI was going to end up being more of a pain in the ass than they’d anticipated, apparently. Great. Fucking wonderful.

“Felix—”

“ _I know_.” Felix hissed back at Locus. “Can you at least fucking save it for when we’re out of this hellhole?”

Locus went silent. Felix kicked the two bodies off of the bridge as he passed them. At the very least the two of the could afford to clean up the evidence that the Freelancers were gone. The lava could take care of them.

But for a little while, for several precious minutes, Locus and Felix fell into an imitation of their old routine of sorts. Felix took the lead, moving several feet ahead at all times and playing the scout just like he’d been trained to do. Locus followed behind, but didn’t cloak himself as he usually would have. The blood on his armor would need to be washed off properly if he wanted to be able to use his equipment properly again.

They didn’t have the time for it.

That was all that there was to it.

But Felix took his place in the cockpit, which allowed for Locus to slide into the co-pilot’s seat wordlessly.

Felix smashed in the autopilot information so that they could get back to the Tartarus.

Once they were there, then they’d have the time to regroup and plan for what was to come next.

But first they had to get there without any extra interference.

As they took off and Felix glanced down at the scenery below, Felix was able to watch as multicolored dots stepped out onto the light bridge. Idiots, no doubt, in search of their dead friends.

The Epsilon AI would be able to fill them in, assuming its chip didn’t get destroyed in the lava.

Which it probably would be.

* * *

When Locus and Felix got back to the Tartarus they were mostly in one piece, all things considered. The worst injury that either of them had gotten fighting the Freelancers had already been patched up to the point where there was just nothing to worry about. For that reason, when they arrived, they didn’t bother going to the control bay or looking to speak to anyone. Instead, they made a beeline straight for Locus’ room.

Once they were safe inside and the door was locked, the first thing that happened was Felix aided Locus in stripping out of his armor. It came away easy. Easy enough that all that had to be done was that had to check that Locus’ injury had set for the most part. There wasn’t blood flowing anymore and it wasn’t bad enough that Felix would have to force Locus to see a medic for it. Which was good because he had pretty good evidence to prove that Locus was the single worst patient in the universe.

And also there was a thing where all of the medics they had on board the Tartarus were fucking terrified of him.  It wouldn’t have been a pleasant thing for anyone involved, really. Better not to go that route if they didn’t have to.

After the check was done, they sat together on Locus’ bed. Between them was a datapad that they continually passed back and forth as they re-strategized.

At the very least, they needed a plan before Hargrove got up their asses again.

Which meant that they had a couple of hours at best. Felix didn’t look forward to explaining that the last plan had gone to shit because of the Reds and Blues. He also strongly suspected that Locus wasn’t looking forward to it either.

Also there was the thing where he _knew_ that he was starting to look less and less human with every day.

Fucking horns. Fucking claws. Fucking teeth.

“I wish that asshole would just let us bomb these fuckers from orbit.” Felix whined. He rubbed at the base of his right horn. It ached uncomfortably, and he was pretty sure that he'd never be able to wear a helmet again. So it was probably a matter of time before someone got in a lucky shot against him and everything stopped fucking mattering anyways.

Just great.

The demon shit was supposed to make him _stronger_ , not open him up to a crippling vulnerability.

Wasn’t like he’d be able to go back to civilian life either. Not that Felix ever really wanted to do that in the first place. He’d tried, okay? It hadn’t worked out. Point was, the horns and everything else were going to make retirement impossible. Not to mention getting new contracts in the first place.

Suddenly, he was actually starting to regret making a contract with Krampus. Fucker hadn’t mentioned that shit would go this way.

Unlimited power. What horseshit.

“You know he won’t allow it.” Locus said, clearly agitated. His hair was mussed from him playing with it in frustration on top of just general dishevelment that came from taking off the helmet. “We need a proper strategy.”

“Storm the city?” Felix suggested. “Might get rid of some of the shittier pirates while we’re at it. Wouldn’t mind getting rid of that Darnoldson fucker.”

“Again,” Locus sighed. “We don’t have a Darnoldson.”

“ _Still.”_ Felix protested with a frustrated wave of his arms. “We get rid of them, we get rid of the people of Chorus, we get a better paycheck.”

“ _It won’t work_ .” Locus argued back. “Ever since Armonia they’ve relocated. Since their new base contains _all_ of their forces, it’ll be too well defended for a simple siege to work if we’re going to finish the job in a timely manner. We don’t have the months we’d need to pull a siege off.”

 _Timely._ Felix thought. _Asshole._ There wasn’t shit timely about how the job was going, and both of them knew it perfectly well.

But maybe Locus had a point. A siege was a bad idea. Storming the city was a worse idea.

He leaned back against the bedframe and stared Locus down. “Well, we need to have something. Ad we can’t have _something_ if you’re going to just keep on shooting down all of my fucking ideas.”   
  
“They aren’t good.”

“Well I don’t hear you suggesting anything!” Felix hissed back. “I mean, seriously. What are you thinking? When’s the last time you were _actually_ good for a fight?”

Locus recoiled like he’d just been slapped.

And for a second, Felix _almost_ felt remorse for it. Maybe it was a low blow. Maybe he didn’t really care. “I’m just saying. We don’t have any good ideas and you fucking know it. That’s why you haven’t offered shit.”

“Felix—”

“And _you_ insist that we need to have a plan before that asshole Hargrove calls us again, but you know that we won’t have anything that will satisfy him.” Felix crossed his arms over his chest. His skin was hot again, damn it. “And the Freelancers being dead will only be enough to appease him for let’s say… half a minute? You know what, two minutes. I’m feeling _generous._ ”

Locus stood up in a way that made it _very_ clear to Felix that he was more or less locking up. They needed fucking solutions, and Felix really didn’t know where they were going to find them. They needed something.

The Purge was out.

Storming the remaining bases was out.

Sieges were out.

What the hell else was there that they could use? He wanted something that wouldn’t lead to them dragging out the war for much longer. If it went on too long, he and Locus were done. Dead. No question about it.

He reached up and he let his fingertips brush against the curved horn at his brow. There had to be something. Maybe going back to the Temple of Night? Maybe feeding on Locus again, even if that was just about guaranteed to fuck them by the end of everything.

 _Goddamnit_.

“We could nuke from orbit.” Felix hissed. “Who knows, maybe now Hargrove would be open to the fucking suggestion now that we’re getting our asses handed to us.”

“You know that won’t happen.” Locus swallowed, leaned forward on his bed awkwardly and uncomfortably. He still hadn’t looked at Felix directly since the two of them had gotten back to the ship. “It’s too late for infiltration to be an option.”

Felix shrugged. “You know, I’ve been able to do some crazy shit since all this Krampus shit started happening. Maybe we should ask him.”

“I don’t like that option.” Locus mumbled.

“Yeah.” Felix frowned. “I know.”

Locus swallowed hard and fidgeted awkwardly where he sat. “Favorable outcomes will be difficult to find. The best we might be able to do—”

“Oh _god_ don’t say what I think you’re going to say.” Felix protested. He knew exactly where Locus was going. It was where Locus always went when protocols were failing left and right. It was the shittiest thing. The thing that Felix had gotten into mercenary work to _avoid_.

Locus shot him a flat look. “Having accurate, up to date information is important.”

“Okay.” Felix nodded his head. “Yeah, sure, and it also takes fucking forever and we don’t have weeks to come up with a plan. And I’m not going to bow to some shit like _poisoning the water supply goddamnit._ That shit’s amateur hour.”

The room went deathly silent. Locus’ eyes widened because the asshole had always had a stupidly expressive face. He walked over to the wall where he’d posted a single map of Chorus, a rare paper copy which Felix strongly suspected had been stolen out of a gas station road almanac. Locus had marked it and re-marked it over and over again, a constant up to date ledger of everything on Chorus.

His partner stared at the wall, at the map on it, contemplating.

“Felix.” Locus said his name, slowly. Hesitantly, even.

“Yeah, Locs?”

“We have a protocol we can use.”

Felix’s expression split into a wide sharp-toothed grin. “I have never been more glad to hear you say that.”

Locus nodded along, but he seemed hesitant. Hesitant enough that Felix didn’t want to question it too much.

There was a too-long pause though. Felix blinked.

“So which one is it?”

Locus gave him a look, hesitant. And then he answered.

“The quarry.”

Felix’s heart jumped. Well that brought back some fucking memories.

Felix just hoped that it went better than the last time they’d had to use the quarry defense, back when Siris was still part of their team.

It could work.

Maybe.

Hopefully.


	11. Phone Sex Is Really Fun When Your Partner Is Actually Willing To Play Along

One all-hands meeting later and Felix and Locus were well on their ways to getting their next, and hopefully final, strike on Chorus well in the works. The one saving grace was that most of the dumbass space pirates had shut up and let Locus talk for the whole fucking meeting, which was a good thing because if  _ anyone  _ even tried to interrupt Locus would lose the script. If that happened, Felix would have to reveal himself and finish it up for him. 

And even though Felix knew for a  _ fact _ that Locus had cue cards on his HUD so that he wouldn’t panic too much while public speaking, they wouldn’t be enough to save Locus. It was kind of pathetic, really. Felix didn’t bother to make an appearance in person. The absolute last thing that he or Locus needed was for their men to see what had happened to him. 

As far as the pirates knew, Felix was off on his own on Chorus acting there. Scouting. Or something.

But despite everything he saw as he watched over Locus’ performance from a security camera. He delivered the explanation of their plans easily enough, and Felix was glad to see everyone willing to play along. The promise of paychecks in the near future definitely had quite a bit to do with it. 

Locus stayed around for longer than Felix had ever known him to be comfortable with. When he was done explaining everything, Felix watched over the cameras as Locus navigated his way back to his own room. Felix hummed, got up, and began on his way toward the same room for one last meeting. 

_ You seem satisfied with your plan. _ Krampus commented in his head, almost like he was trying to try and make sense of where Felix stood all of a sudden. Like the hostile takeover of his body wasn’t already happening and screwing things over. 

“It’s Locus’ plan.” Felix shrugged as he walked. “He’s good at this shit. I’m not.” 

_ It seems to me that you rely on your partner’s strength more than you do your own. _

“I don’t.” Felix said quietly, pausing for a moment just outside of his partner’s room to stare at the door. “Not any more than he relies on me.” 

_ You have faith in this plan? _ Krampus asked.  _ Even if you won’t solely rely on my power? _

“I dunno.” Felix mumbled, reaching out for the door and rapping against it with his knuckles. “Depends how this shit actually works out.”

The door opened, and for just a moment Krampus went blessedly silent.

* * *

Locus and Felix boarded their Pelican far out of the view of any of their men so that they could fly down to Chorus, possibly for the very last time. Whether that was because they wouldn’t need to make return trips anymore, or because they wouldn’t leave Chorus at all was up in the air. Felix couldn’t do much to keep it buzzing through his mind, though. 

They were close to the end, one way or another. 

Felix leaned back in his seat with his helmet in his lap. It wasn’t going to fit on his head anymore (truthfully, he didn’t think that even a Sanghieli Elite’s helmet would have been able to fit him right. Not with the horns being shaped the way that they were. Not with how far they stuck out away from his head.) But even still, having the helmet close at hand was still a comfort. An odd thing that didn’t make sense considering that he wasn’t quite like Locus was. 

One good headshot and he was dead. Felix  _ knew  _ that. He hoped that he’d be able to find safety in the incompetence of the Reds and Blues. Without Washington and Carolina his chance of getting shot did go down by quite a bit. In theory.

It was hard to say.

Felix smoothed his thumb over the visor. “Locs.”

“Yes?”

“Feel good about this?”

“No.”

Not good.

“Your plan’s solid.”

“I know.”

“Still risky.” 

“Yes.”

Felix stared across at him. “What do you want to do when this shit’s over?” 

Locus looked up from his hands where they had been folded in his lap. He was sitting stiff and uncomfortable. Nervous. Afraid. 

Felix had learned years before that there was a certain sort of ritual to the way that Locus boarded and sat on a Pelican. Quiet and pensive. Almost like offering a prayer with the expectation that he’d never get to come back. He’d sit there in his seat, thumbing at the edges of his gauntlets like he was counting rosary beads. All but trying to give himself his own last rites when he expected to get none on the battlefield.

That was war, though. They both understood that. The odds that you died in a pit somewhere greatly outweighed the odds that you’d ever get to go home. 

That was just how it was. 

Locus dealt with it in quiet, in silence, in unspoken prayers. Whatever god he prayed to, Felix didn’t know. He assumed it was whichever one was listening. 

None listened. Locus’ life was shit enough to prove that.

Felix’s ritual was in the form of talk. It made trips down to Chorus always feel more tense than they ever needed to. Not because of either of their faults. 

But Locus  _ was _ thinking, and it did seem like he was doing his best to play along and offer Felix what comfort he could in that moment. 

Locus wouldn’t have an answer. Felix knew that. Odds were that Locus would go where he went— they'd been together for so long that separating was hard. 

“I’m liking the idea of an island.” Felix said, not sure whether he was having a conversation or just talking to himself. “I mean, just for me. Nobody can fucking bother me and stare at—” He gestured vaguely toward his horns on his head. Locus would get it. “Live a life normally.” Felix looked back up and across at Locus. His partner sat there with his head tilted forward, eyes focused on the floor. “I bet you’d like a private island too.” 

Locus’ head tilted up and he focused on Felix for a moment, brief as it was. “Maybe.” He said. Maybe. Not much of a positive answer. Still probably the best that Felix could have ever hoped for so he knew, deep down, that ultimately his best option was to take it. 

God this shit sucked. 

“We’ll finish this shit.” Felix huffed out, squirming to make himself more comfortable in his seat. He needed to feel comfortable. At home. Relaxed. “Your plan is fucking solid. Assholes won’t even know what hit them.” 

“That’s the hope.” Locus mumbled, still far away and distant as he always was. It made Felix want to tear his own hair out. “We can’t be overconfident.” 

“ _ Bullshit—”  _ Felix began to protest when the sound of an alert going off on one of the many open channels that he and Locus were monitoring made him nearly jump. He stared across at Locus, who looked back at him seeming just as confused and almost concerned about the matter as Felix felt. 

Felix frowned. “Any idea?” 

“No.” Locus mumbled. “We should listen.”

“Right.” Felix sighed. “I swear to god if it’s Hargrove, I’m gonna rip that assholes spine out through his throat. Because I can do that now, you know.” 

_ “Focus.” _

“God, fine. Just let me—” Felix began to fiddle with his helmet until he was sure that he was on the right channel. 

The thing that told him that he  _ was _ on the correct channel as the sound of Lavernius Tucker’s voice, not even  _ laced _ with fury. It was full blown. All out, all-consuming, engulfing  _ rage. _

Felix leaned back in his seat on the Pelican and made sure to nod at Locus to be sure that his partner was also listening in on the conversation. He really hadn’t been expecting to hear from any of the Reds and Blues, not since he and Locus had made sure to take care of the little Freelancer problem. 

Not that they would have been able to do much about the AI. Always with the fucking AI.

“Hey, Tucker.” Felix said as he made himself a little bit more comfortable. “You know, it’s been so long since the two of us have talked. How are you doing? Nice weather, huh?” They weren’t even on Chorus yet. Felix didn’t know what the weather would look like. 

“Shut the fuck up.” Tucker snapped back at him. “Where the fuck are you?”

“Wow.” Felix rolled his eyes and glanced across at Locus. “What’s next, you gonna ask what I’m wearing? Because you know the odds are that the answer is armor.” 

“Shut up.” Tucker snarled at him again, still over the radio transmission. “Where are you?”

“Not telling you that.” Felix deadpanned. Really, did Tucker think he’d get an answer to that sort of question?

Tucker swore, and in the background Felix could hear the sound of one of the other Reds and Blues - maybe Grif swearing. Felix didn’t actually care all that much which one it was. In the end he figured that it wouldn’t actually matter all that much. In a matter of time he’d be making sure that all of them were dead and rotting in a heap anyways. 

He couldn’t fucking wait it was so exciting to think about.

The Blue did seem to pause though, if only because he probably needed the moment to try and formulate whatever shit it was that he was actually intending to say. 

Felix let out a breath. “Okay, look, I get that you’re probably mad because we broke your toys or something—”

_ “You killed our friends.” _

Felix brushed the comment off. “But I really don’t have the time for casual calls, okay pumpkin? Unlike you Reds and Blues, I’m a busy man. I’ve got shit to do!”

And god how good did it feel to hear Tucker go silent at that. He wanted to be sure that he’d gotten under the Reds and Blue’s skin. Getting under Tucker’s skin specifically felt  _ very _ good.

“Look, you asshole.” Tucker snarled at him over the transmission. “We’re going to find you, and we’re going to kill you, and your partner too. And then when we’re done, we’re going to find Hargrove and we’re going to kill him too. Chorus deserves better than what you assholes have done.”

“Hm.” Felix huffed. “I see where you’re coming from. But also? Don’t really care. We’ll see you when we see you, how’s that sound? You bring along that fancy little AI that you guys still have, I bring my partner along, we call it a double date.” 

Locus shot him the dirtiest look. The kind of look that told Felix that it was a matter of time before he ended up paying for that little shot. And oh, how he looked forward to paying.

“Fuck you.” Tucker hissed. 

Felix rolled his eyes and took the moment to log off of the call. He had a feeling that would be about as much as he got out of Tucker anyways. So the Reds and Blues were upset and were probably going to end up coming after them. Fine. Easy. They could do it. With any lucks the idiots would get caught in Locus’ trap anyways. 

Locus stared across at him. “That was unnecessary.” 

“They'll come after us.” Felix said with a shrug, taking a second to scratch at the base of one of his horns. He wasn’t quite used to the feeling of having them there yet. He figured he’d get used to it eventually. “We’ll catch them.”

“Still.” Locus mumbled. “It was unnecessary.”

“Consider it a lure.” Felix grinned across at his partner. “I’ll be fine.” 

“If you insist.”

“Unclench.”

“Not until it’s over.” 

“Fine.” Felix sighed. “Just keep your shit together.”

“I intend to.”

“Good.”

“Good.” Locus echoed, sounding far too distant for Felix’s liking.

 

 


	12. I Really Do Like Dynamite, But Sometimes It's Just More Fun To Get Up Close And Personal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Past me is an asshole for writing such a long chapter. Please enjoy it.

With Locus' plan in place, getting their men to fall into line was easy. The strategy as Locus had presented it had been more than comprehensive enough that there was absolutely no question that things would end up working out. If they didn’t end up ending the whole war (and that was Felix’s biggest hope) it would at least end up putting a massive dent in the united armies and in the Reds and Blues. That was a win of sorts in itself. 

It made Felix at least feel comfortable with what would be happening with their forces moving forward. The plan was good. It was solid. It would probably work.

Which was good, since they were minutes from executing Locus’ plan. It wasn’t as though there was much time left to have doubts about the damn thing. 

A small group of space pirates headed toward the first of the many choke points that had been identified and arranged to be used for ambushes. Felix liked that particular idea, personally. Catching the people of Chorus as they tried to flee safety when it became clear that safety wouldn’t work any longer. 

It was cruel, even for Locus. Killing people as they ran. 

Felix turned toward his partner, just slightly. Locus was fully cloaked, fully suited up. Felix couldn’t blame the paranoid bastard for it. He kept his eyes on the telltale shimmer of the cloaking to keep track of where his partner even was.

“So what do you think,” Felix asked tapping on the earpiece that he’d had to put in since his helmet couldn’t exactly fit over his head anymore. Damn horns. They were cool, but  _ very _ inconvenient at the end of the day. Felix wished that he had his helmet. If he’d had his helmet he could have had this conversation with Locus without anyone hearing it. It could have been secret. “Now that we’re here?”

But that wasn’t a luxury that he had anymore. He didn’t get the safety, he didn’t get the hearing protection, he didn’t get to use private comms. What a fucking shame.

They were so close to the endpoint of the mission that Felix could practically taste it. The idea of his paycheck being so close on the horizon was actually exciting to think about. 

Locus paused, hesitant. Felix had to watch for the shimmer of his cloaking stopping dead in his tracks. Felix wasn’t sure if Locus hesitating over shit was good or bad anymore. Shit was all weird from just about every angle.

Hs partner took a quiet breath, but Felix could still hear it over comms. “It might work.” He replied. “It’s too early to say right now.” 

“Sure.” Felix hummed. “You are ready though, right?”

“Yes.” Locus replied, but he didn’t sound so confident about the matter. “You should rally with the rest of the men.”

Felix knew that Locus was right. The plan had laid out a specific placement for every one of their men— the two of them included. Felix’s job was to wait for the first signs of evacuation and then to fall back. And that meant that all he got to do for the first part of the mission was stand around and  _ wait _ while Locus got to do the fun stuff, the asshole.

But if things went the way they wanted, when the Reds and Blues showed up, it would be his turn to step to the front and get started. And when that happened, Felix fully intended to have fun with it. 

Felix huffed. “You aren’t any fun.”

“And you aren’t focusing on the mission.” Locus sniped back, irritation obvious in his voice. His cloaking slipped away all at once, and Locus raised a fist to signal his position to the small squad that he’d chosen for himself. A group of five began to approach, and Felix was able to recognize them quickly enough. All of them were men that had been  outfitted with cloaking units long before and knew how to use them to their best ability. 

It made sense. It still annoyed the fuck out of Felix that he wasn’t allowed to go in.

The five of them gathered around Locus, who seemed to tower over the rest of them. Locus said nothing else to Felix because he probably had nothing else to say. He only nodded at him and then he went off to enact phase one of the plan with his squad in tow. 

The last thing that Felix saw of Locus was his cloaking unit re-activating and his form disappearing into a slight shimmer, followed closely after by the space pirates. All of them who had been hell-bent on giving Felix weird looks before they went off with Locus. 

They’d been staring because he had horns. Because he was existing in a warzone without a helmet which was downright suicidally stupid, even on good days where they weren’t going directly into a battle. 

Suddenly Felix understood why Locus was so insecure about the scars on his face. The staring was fucking unpleasant.

The whole thing was insane though, really. 

_ All  _ of it.

Felix seriously hoped that everything would play out in their favor that day. If things went the way they wanted, the job would be done. He would get his paycheck. He’d get his private fucking island. He and Locus could find another forsaken rock to make their lives on. One where there wasn’t a civil war or rainbow colored morons to deal with.

But Felix was left behind to take his post. And all that he could do was wait for Locus' signal. 

Without another option and knowing that going too far off script would jeopardize the whole damn thing, Felix took his post. He wasn’t fucking happy about it, though.

His skin felt warm and itchy. 

He  _ needed _ for shit to start happening if he was going to play along right. 

* * *

From where Felix had been stationed outside of the united armies base, it was hard to tell what was actually going on inside. That wasn’t to say that Felix didn’t know what was going on. He  _ knew  _ what was happening perfectly well. He just wished that he could see what things looked like inside. Visual confirmation could go a pretty long fucking way.

But Felix knew the plan. He’d taken the time to review it time and time again, just to be sure. 

That was how he knew that Locus and his squad were going in to strap bombs to any and all of the infrastructure that they could find. Not looking for expensive stuff as much as main supports. Things that would bring the top down if they got blasted apart. After that they were going to remove themselves from Crash Site Bravo on their own. Locus would retreat to a sniper’s nest that had been set up beforehand. 

The signal would be, presumably, a united army soldier getting shot in the head. The  _ actual  _ signal the sound of Locus’ rifle going off. After that, they were going to blow the whole damn place to hell. Then they would just take out the stragglers and anyone that tried to run.

Cruel. Unforgiving. Planned down to a T so that they could end the whole war against Chorus in one go.

Knowing the plan didn’t make the whole thing any less nerve wracking.

Felix frowned and radioed in to Locus. Maybe talking to him would make him feel a little bit less on-edge.

“What’s your status?”

“Half-finished.” Locus replied surprisingly quickly. “I will let you know when we are done.  _ Now get off the radio _ .”

It was better than nothing, but it could have been way better. Felix couldn’t help but feel a little miffed at the response.

“Asshole.” Felix snarled into the comms but didn’t managed to get the whole word out before Locus had hung up on him. Not wholly unusual, really. Still fucking annoying. Even if it  _ was _ to be expected that calling Locus would go that way.

Felix still didn’t feel any better about the plan.

_ Your anxiety is unpleasant _ . Krampus told Felix out of nowhere, because of course the asshole had to be hanging out in his head. Of course he had to be there to make everything like a million fucking times worse. It wasn’t like he could even  _ talk _ to Krampus without leaving his fucking post and pissing off Locus. 

But goddamn it he  _ needed  _ to talk to someone.  _ Anyone _ . Anything to help him to relax and feel like he wasn’t about to jump out of his own goddamn skin. 

Felix gave his surroundings one last look over before he slipped away to at least get out of earshot of the space pirates. He really didn’t need to come off as crazy to the men that they were commanding. He was pretty sure Locus only got away with it because the guy was fucking  _ scary _ . 

“Shit’s too choreographed.” Felix muttered to Krampus, careful to keep his volume as low as he could. “Locs is good at planning, but there are way too many ways for all of this to go completely to shit. All it takes is one person moving the wrong way and we’re re-arranging everything. Then who knows how much longer this war shit goes.”

_ You are not confident in your partner’s plans? _

“His plans are  _ good _ .” Felix sighed. “I just don’t like how easy it is for this one to fall apart. I know that it’ll probably work out. Just the waiting part fucking sucks. I can’t do shit like this.” 

_ You think it will be better once it goes into motion? _

“Probably. I don’t fucking know.”

_ So all you are allowed to do is wait? _

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.” Felix checked the timer on his HUD. It felt like the set up was taking too long. He knew Locus was methodical, that he liked to take his time making sure that every piece was played perfectly. It still didn’t feel good.

_ You wish you were able to be in there with your partner. _ Finally, a somewhat useful observation.

“Pretty much.”

_ How long would this normally take? _ Krampus asked him.  _ This mission. _

_ “ _ Not this long.” Felix huffed. “It’s not like there isn’t a shitton of reasons for it to take so long though. Locs hasn’t had a chance to case the site since it got turned into a base. Improvements always happen when people move in for real. Better than the ones the fucking Reds and Blues made, at least.”

_ He will let you know when it is ready? _ Krampus asked, almost sounding like he was genuinely curious about the matter.  _ And then you will get to— _

There was a crackle of radio static which both silenced Krampus and distracted Felix. 

“Charges are set. Wait for signal.” Droned Locus before his voice disappeared with the radio clicking off. 

That sealed it. Felix took a breath and began the walk back to his post. He stepped up into position, checked that his Mongoose was nearby, and then waited for his partner’s signal.

Agonizing minute after agonizing minute passed by. 

Felix  _ knew  _ what Locus was doing. Choosing a perfect target, possibly a cluster where he knew he could take out two or three people in quick succession if he wanted to. Locus didn’t use a spotter anymore because he didn’t  _ need  _ to, but having a spotter would have made it faster. But Locus didn’t need a spotter. All he needed was himself.

Felix actually kind of  _ missed  _ being the asshole’s spotter, as irritating as that role got.

So Felix waited, knowing what Locus was doing.

It was all method. All needing concentration. All needing  _ time. _

Finally after a wait that felt like it took way too long, Felix heard the gunshot, out of nowhere. There was a quick shout from one of them men a second later. Moments after that Felix heard the first explosion, and smoke began to rise from the crash site. Without his helmet to protect his ears or to filter the air entering his lungs, it wasn’t pleasant. The explosions were too loud. The smoke was bitter and acrid in his mouth. 

“Operation started.” Locus told him over the comms. “Heading to rendezvous point.”

“I’ll meet you there once I’ve got my tail.” Felix replied, perhaps too loudly,  as he stood at his post and just waited for any sign of people trying to escape at all. 

Sure enough, people began to stream out, all in varying levels of armor. 

How very convenient.

Felix tilted his head back and shouted to the space pirates. “Kill them all. No survivors!”

With that said, Felix took a few pot shots at the escaping Chorusans. He still had shit to do, he just wanted to have his fun first. Once he was satisfied, Felix went onto his comm to try and provoke someone so that he could play  _ his  _ part.

“Hey, Tucker.” Felix grinned, almost  _ relaxed _ into his role. “Why don’t you meet me for that double date we talked about? We’d love to see you. I’ve got a really nice view that I’d love to share.”

And god how  _ good _ it felt when Tucker answered him. 

“You. Fucking.  _ Asshole _ .”

“Yeah,” Felix laughed into the mic. “Thought so. See you soon, muffin.”

“I’m going to find you asssholes.” Tucker shouted at him. “You killed Simmons, you know that?”

So that was who Locus had taken out. Huh. Not what Felix would have expected.

“Oh, good.” Felix smiled as he turned on his heel and began on his way back to the Mongoose. Just as planned. “Did we get that fatass Grif too, or just the one? Because I wouldn’t want to go breaking any hearts in all of this, I’m not a monster, you know? Those two were really always up each other's asses.”

“Hey, Felix?” Tucker asked, choosing not to answer Felix’s question for some reason. Asshole. “I see you.”

_ Bait, taken _ .

Good.

“Oh.” Felix slung his leg over the seat of the Mongoose. He started it and the engine roared to life. “That’s really too bad.”

With that Felix started off on his way toward Crash Site Alpha where Locus was waiting for him. With a trap already set for anyone that dared to follow him in. All that Felix had to do was lead the Reds and Blues that were left straight into an ambush. 

“On my way.” Felix radioed his partner, shouting over the roar of the Mongoose’s engine. “Get ready.”

“Stop talking and get here in one piece.” Locus replied. It was more than Felix had really expected. “And don’t lose your tail.”

“Trust me,” Felix grinned, checking back over his shoulder to see a Warthog following after him, familiar orange at the driver’s seat and teal at shotgun. “I won’t.

With that, Felix simply drove.

* * *

 

With his heart beating hard against his chest, Felix skidded into Crash Site Alpha on his Mongoose and quickly examined his surroundings in search of Locus. His partner uncloaked himself, just long enough to make sure that Felix knew where he was. Felix took a breath, feeling somewhat relieved, and then all but threw himself off of the Mongoose and sprinted to high ground where he could join up with Locus as planned. Locus only watched him as he approached, no doubt more concerned with how soon they'd have their guests arriving. 

“They’ll be here soon.” Felix huffed, feeling a little bit out of breath. Goddamn, he was tired. It was only a matter of time before the first of the Reds and Blues got there though, so it wasn’t as though there was time for him to get any rest. Not that he'd be able to rest anyways. He was fucking  _ wired. _ He needed for the Reds and Blues to show up if he was going to relax. “Is it ready?”

“Charges are set for the bottleneck.” Locus replied, completely steady and unfazed. His gaze stayed focused straight ahead of him, at the rock wall next to the road. “They’ll be going off when they start to come through.”

_ Too simple _ , Felix thought. “And if we’re lucky, rocks fall and kill everyone, right?” Felix tilted his head to get a look at Locus’ face. “Seems pretty based on chance to be your plan. You sure you feel good about it?”

“It will depend.” Locus sighed. “Who was following the closest after you?”

“Tucker and Grif.” Felix answered truthfully. He was certain that he'd seen the two of them. “I wanna say that they had Sarge in as their third guy. They were in a Warthog, and I was more worried about getting out of there before they could open fire. You know how it is, evasive driving takes  _ work, _ thanks.”

“Understood.” Locus glanced over his shoulder, and Felix could  _ feel _ the dissatisfaction practically rolling off of him. “You should consider taking cover.” 

“And let you have all the fun? Fuck that.” Felix gripped his rifle. The cool metal felt comforting against his hot skin. Goddamn, he needed for this show to get going. “I want to get to kill Tucker. So cave it in when the rest of them show up. I wouldn’t want to lose the opportunity of a lifetime if you know what I mean. Probably not gonna get a chance to kill Tucker again. Imagine it, I could have  _ two _ swords.” Felix bounced on his heels. 

Locus gave him a look which communicated  _ very _ clearly what he thought of that little idea. Mostly, that he fucking hated it. “There will be shrapnel. Rocks being blasted apart.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“It’s too risky.”

“Look—” Felix looked up at Locus. The fucking armor had to make him even taller than he was normally. ”Don’t take this from me. I don’t try to ruin your fun, you know. When you try to have it.“ 

Locus let out a long-suffering sigh. But he also didn’t do anything else to fight Felix on the matter. That was honestly way more than Felix had been expecting to get. It sounded like he was even quietly  _ agreeing _ to what Felix was asking for him to do. 

And that was pretty interesting, if Felix could say so. Guy was probably antsy for it to be over too. That wouldn’t have surprised him at all.

Felix couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face, sharp-toothed as it was. It wasn’t often that it happened, but it was always nice when Locus let him both have his cake and also eat it too. But he didn’t have time to focus on how nice it was that he got to potentially do what he wanted, Felix reminded himself. He looked down at the road where he’d just come in. From where he was standing at Locus’ side, he could see several blinking lights surrounding the entrance, and even a few on the ground. 

It didn’t take long to recognize the lights for what they were. Each and every one of those lights was a bomb. 

It almost looked like they had just strapped everything that they had on-site to the formations around the road and then had buried the rest underneath it. Locus had to be feeling  _ really _ confident if that was the route that had been taken. Felix liked it when Locus felt confident about their missions. A confident Locus was a good Locus, as far as field work was concerned. 

And besides, the same thing had worked back at the quarry during the night from hell that they spent fighting Ruben fucking Lozano. Who would have thought  _ that _ shitty fucking bounty would be the one they’d draw on for ideas. That shit had been a disaster.

“We’re almost done.” Felix breathed out, sudden elation rushing through him. “Feels good, right?”

“We aren’t done yet.” Locus grumbled, always having to be a a massive fucking buzzkill. It was like it was his only goal in life or something.

Not far off in the distance, Felix could hear the sound of a Warthog’s engines growling closer. They didn’t have much time before their company finally arrived. Felix thought for a moment on it. 

He  _ knew  _ why Locus wanted him to take cover. It was beyond obvious, really. He had no helmet. It would only take one bullet, or one piece of exploding stone to kill him. He didn’t want to have to get down and take cover. He also didn’t really feel too keen on the idea of fucking  _ dying _ . 

For once, the asshole had a point.

_ But _ , Felix thought, if he paid close attention he could probably managed to get down just in time for the explosions to save himself, or he could use his hard light shield to block most of the blast from getting to him. There was already going to be a delay between the first and second Warthogs arriving, with who knows how many Reds and Blues on them. There was no way that the three men in the Warthog that had been following him had decided to wait up for everyone else. 

He could probably manage to keep himself safe. He just had to pay attention. Keep himself from getting distracted. 

“You ready, S-?” He asked Locus one last time. He bit his lower lip. “You ready, Locs?”

“Yes.” Locus confirmed. He didn’t sound hesitant about it. The slip-up went ignored.

For perhaps the first time that day, Felix felt calm. 

Like shit was actually possible, like shit was going to go the ways that they were supposed to. 

The Warthog carrying Grif, Tucker, and Sarge turned into the site. All three of them looked like they were absolutely enraged, even with the armor and helmets on to block their expressions. Felix didn’t know whether they were more angry over Locus taking out that idiot Simmons, or the fucking Freelancers. 

But they were there, so it was time for the show to start.

“Tucker!” Felix greeted their guests. “So, what did you think of the show? I think we could have used more C-4, personally. Or maybe some musical backing. Tchaikovsky, maybe. Probably would have been a bit better that way.”

“You fuck!” Tucker opened fire on him immediately with a pistol. Felix thought quick and brought up the hard light shield to block the shots and save himself. 

He had to pay attention, he reminded himself. No fucking around.

“You know,” Felix frowned, keeping the shield up. “I really would have preferred if you brought flowers, or pizza, or  _ something _ .” Felix couldn’t help but to laugh. “It might have made this go a little bit easier for you morons.” 

“Oh fuck you dude!” Tucker shouted back at him before he paused. Felix had no idea of what the expression on the Blue leader’s face was like, but based on how quiet all three of their guests were, Felix had a hunch. The fuckers were  _ never  _ quiet. They were  _ surprised _ . Maybe even fucking  _ scared. _

Having them afraid of him felt fucking  _ good. _

He glanced over at Locus, unable to hide the sly grin that stretched across his face. “Seems like the idiots figured it out, what do you think Locs?”

“It appears so.” Locus replied, even-toned as ever. Not willing to betray anything.

“What the hell happened to you?” Grif asked, departing from the driver’s seat of the Warthog since he’d probably figured out that there was no getting out of where they were. Not alive, anyways. Not that Felix cared whether or not the Reds and Blues got buried or not. 

“It’s obvious!” Sarge shouted from the back, pulling his shotgun into his hands as he hopped down from the vehicle. “His outsides have finally begun to match his evil insides!”

“ _ Yeah _ .” Felix hummed. “Let’s just say that it’s a long story and not worry about it  _ too  _ much. We’ve all got shit to do.” Felix decided to brush off the topic. Telling the truth would only end up with him confusing the fuck out of the Reds and Blues anyways. No reason to make their brains hurt when they were about to die anyways. Felix did perk up though, since he did have one question he would have liked an answer to. “So how many of you guys died back at Crash Site Bravo? I’d hate to have a lot to do here. Please tell me we got at least two, I’d hate for our strike to have been a waste of time.”

Both of the Reds visibly stiffened. They looked at each other like the two of them were having a silent conversation between the two of them. Whatever it was they were communicating over, it was decided that Grif was the one to address it, if the way that he stared straight ahead at Felix was any indication.

“Just Simmons, you fucking asshole.” Grif’s helmet tilted in Locus’ direction. The orange fatass even took a half-step toward him. “It was you, wasn’t it? You fucking  _ shot him _ .”

Locus didn’t answer, and Felix was glad for it. If Locus said anything it would have just made shit worse. It would have made the Reds and Blues even angrier, and Felix didn’t want to have to deal with that horseshit. Felix’s eyes narrowed. He set his gaze on Grif’s form and pat Locus’ shoulder.

“Look, Grif.” Felix replied. “It’s nothing personal. Same with your little Freelancer friends. You guys get in our way, we have to kill you. We  _ gave _ you a chance to leave. When you idiots didn’t take that chance, you kind of accepted that this would end up happening. This is all on you.”

“That’s bullshit!” Tucker shouted. “Both of you assholes had a choice about this shit!” He continued on. “What kind of people decide to do shit like this?”

Felix couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “You know who hired us to do this. Why don’t you take that to him and see what he has to say? We’re just middlemen, Tucker. Well-paid middlemen, but still middlemen.”

“Like we have the fucking time.” Grif muttered, just loud enough that Felix was able to hear it. 

“We’re getting him when we’re done with you.” Tucker yelled the words at the two of them. Unfortunately for him, the roar of an engine growing close drowned him out almost entirely as a second Warthog pulled into the clearing. This one carried the oversized blue moron and the pink moron. And it was being driven by Red Team’s brown-clad robot, which was probably the only way that all of the vehicles occupants had made it there alive. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw Locus move. It was just a slight enough motion that Felix didn’t know that anyone else would have noticed it without being right next to Locus to begin with. He knew what Locus was doing. Nobody else needed to know.

The charges around the entrance went off. The ground shook with the force of the explosions, like Locus had just managed to set off a miniature earthquake. Felix was sure that they were leaving a pretty good dent in the planet.

It happened just as Caboose was shouting “Hello!” The first blast didn’t hit the Warthog. The thing that really did it in was the mine that went off directly under the passenger side wheel. Almost instantly Caboose was torn apart.

The Warthog seemed to collapse in on itself as it was blasted apart. Lopez looked like mangled machinery, a part of the Warthog at that point. The only thing that made him look distinct from it was the brown armor that he wore. And that was good because Felix was pretty sure the robot was the only one on that Warthog that was even halfway competent.

The only one that seemed to survive the blast was Donut. He crawled forward from the wreckage on his arms and knees, barely able to move. He made it less than a foot before Locus raised his rifle to deliver a finishing shot to the pink-clad soldier’s head. The inside of his helmet was probably dyed red. Just red. Not lightish-red. Not pink. Just red. Maybe red and grey, considering the brain matter.

The three that were left all stood there, absolutely stunned by what had just happened. Almost like the three of them needed a minute for their collective singular brain cell to catch up with reality. 

Felix actually felt kind of satisfied with the outcome. It sure as fuck wasn’t pretty, but he had less shit to do later. And Locus was probably happy that they’d closed them in and had gotten rid of half of the Reds and Blues in the first place.

“Well, not that we’ve got that out of the way—” Felix said, grinning down at the two remaining Reds and the single surviving Blue. The Reds and Blue. “Why don’t we finish this shit off and stop wasting so much time? I’ve got shit to do today.”

The first of the three to move was Sarge, which Felix couldn’t help but be a  _ little  _ surprised by. He’d thought that it would have been Tucker. He gave Locus a quick look and a smile before he brought up his shield and activated his sword at his side. Locus conversely, melted into nothing and slipped back into the shadows to fight from secret. 

“Hey, Sarge.” Felix said before he threw himself at the Red leader. The two of them collided with the sound of metal hitting metal. Felix had to make sure to keep his shield up the entire time as Sarge effectively emptied his shotgun into the shield, screaming in anger and grief all the while. 

“You are my absolute  _ least _ favorite shade of orange!” Sarge screamed at him as Felix grounded himself. It was a weird insult, but Felix would take it.

Barely a half a second later, Felix pushed Sarge away from him using the shield. “Don’t care!” Felix replied, dropping his shield once he was certain that Sarge wouldn’t have the time to both defend himself and also reload. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Felix was aware of Locus strangling Grif, his cloaking dropped because it wasn’t serving much of a purpose in that moment. Locus held a pistol in one hand, probably planning to use it in any second. 

At least the fatass would be gone in a moment or two anyway. 

Felix forced his attention back to Sarge. He had to fucking  _ focus _ , even if the guy that he was fighting was a complete fucking idiot. 

_ He has a pistol _ , Krampus warned him helpfully. 

“Got it.” Felix hissed as he made a snap, possibly even dumb decision. He lunged in at Sarge, leading with his sword with a push of force which was so strong that it could have only been bolstered by Krampus’ strength. 

Sarge’s red blood welled up around the bright blue of his sword. Intense, violent red. Felix watched in strange fascination as the blood began to seem to dye the color of the energy blade. 

Red. Violent, intense, angry red. 

Felix took a breath and stood up straight. The blade sliced through Sarge’s now lifeless body. His bulk fell to the ground in a heap with a crash of his armor. Dead. Threat removed from the battlefield. It wasn’t much, but Felix would take it. 

He pushed his hair out of his face with a bloodied hand. Hot liquid flowed down his forehead and dripped into his face. Felix didn’t bother to push it out of the way. He felt  _ good,  _ goddamn it. A little bit of blood wasn’t about to go ahead and change all of that. 

Hell, he felt euphoric, even. Damn good. Fucking heavenly. 

In the back of his awareness, he heard a gunshot, and then something dropping to the ground in a thud. Locus had probably just finished the job with Grif. 

_ Goddamn _ he felt good. Felix breathed in the acrid air and felt elated.

That blessedly good feeling faded in an instant when Felix heard the sound of a horrible, strangled, familiar cry. 

It was a sound that Felix had heard only a few times before in his life. It was also a sound which Felix genuinely had never wanted to ever have to hear again. It was bad enough that it made his blood run cold in his veins. It felt like the universe had just shattered around him like glass.

Felix had to force himself to move, to turn, to face the source of the sound. 

When he turned around, what he saw was Lavernius Tucker, his aqua colored armor splashed with violent, angry red. 

Standing there in front of Tucker, nearly completely still was Locus. Several feet away was Grif, a hole blasted in his visor with blood leaking out. Definitely dead.

But it wasn’t Grif’s blood on Tucker and Locus' armor.

A bright blue energy blade had been run through his torso. All the way, sticking out the other side. Somehow Locus managed to stay standing, but his hands hovered in front of the injury, shaking violently. His blood ran down the front of his armor, too bright against the dark grey and green of his armor. 

Hot rage boiled in Felix’s veins.

“Locus!” He shouted his partner’s name and charged at Tucker, blind with fury. He nearly slammed himself into Tucker, pushing him away from Locus perhaps  _ too _ violently and quickly. In the background of his anger, Felix was aware of the sound of his partner collapsing to the ground. The same way that Sarge had at his hands only moments before, mere feet away. 

Whether Locus was alive or not, he didn’t know. He  _ couldn’t _ know until Tucker was gone.

“You fuck!” Felix screamed as his and Tucker’s swords clashed against each other, red against blue. Tucker pressed back against him, just as hard and just as insistently. Felix grit his teeth together and bared his fangs at Tucker. He wanted the fucking blue  _ dead. _ He wanted him underground and rotting fucking  _ months _ ago. Before he could have gotten a chance to get at Locus. “ _ You don’t get to touch him!”  _ Felix snarled at the blue leader.

“Fuck you!” Tucker snarled back, taking an odd half-step backward to try and get away from Felix. “You killed my friends! You’re killing a planet! You two fucking  _ deserve _ this!”

“Oh, no.” Felix pressed in closer to Tucker. “You don’t  _ understand _ .” He hissed just as he lunged at the other man. “I don’t  _ care.”  _ Felix thrust the sword toward Tucker’s torso. He managed to barely nick the blue’s armor, which was still enough to do a bit of damage to it since they were dealing with energy weapons. “I don’t care about you. I don’t care about Chorus.” 

Tucker stumbled backwards with another one of those odd half-steps. All done in the hopes that he could  _ avoid _ Felix. 

“But.” Felix added onto what he was already saying. “You’ve hurt my  _ partner. _ And now I  _ really  _ want to hurt you ten times worse because of it. Because he isn’t yours to fucking hurt.”

One more stumble from Tucker planted the asshole on the ground, flat on his ass. Tucker stared up at him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He asked breathlessly.

And honestly, what the hell kind of question was that?“

“Look at me.” Felix bared his teeth at Tucker. “What do you think?”

_ Kill him _ . Krampus hissed in the back of Felix’s mind, more serious than the plague.  _ Destroy him. _

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Tucker looked up at him, confused. “What?”

Felix didn’t answer. He only chose to charge in at Tucker one last time since the asshole was on the ground and there was only so much that he could do to protect himself. One well-placed strike sent his sword through Tucker’s body.

It wasn’t good enough.

He twisted the sword and ran it up through Tucker’s torso, through his guts, cutting into his lungs, separating his heart beneath his sternum.

Felix took a breath and stood up straight, relaxing all at once since he was sure. 

The blue energy sword flickered out inches from Tucker’s body.

Once he was certain that Tucker was dead, or at least beyond help, Felix stepped away. He picked up the sword and attached it at his thigh. 

_ Your partner. _ Krampus reminded him, perhaps being helpful when it came to Locus for the very first time. 

Locus.

_ Shit. _

Felix didn’t give himself the chance to even think about what he was doing before he was rushing to his partner’s side. He had to do something to  _ try _ and help Locus. They were safe. The Reds and Blues were gone, they were probably going to have a few minutes alone, he had to do  _ something. _

The first bit of relief Felix felt was at the realization that Locus was indeed still breathing. It was ragged and shallow, didn’t look good at all really but it was  _ something.  _ Felix wasn’t sure whether the amount of blood pooling around his partner’s body was more or less damning than how shallow his breathing was. 

God, he was fucking  _ drenched  _ with it. All because it  _ had _ to be a fucking gut wound. Shitty enough chance of survival to begin with, even worse when the two of them were out in the field with no chance of them getting to a medic. They didn’t  _ have _ a medic anymore. Anyone that could help them that was left on Chorus wasn’t likely to be willing to help the two of them at all. 

It was in all likelihood a death sentence. Felix knew it, down in his bones. The chance that Locus survived this shit was slim. And there wasn’t shit that he could do except for—

Try to keep him alive. That was it. Al he could do. 

So that was what Felix did. 

He pressed the spare key into Locus’ hand and pushed Locus’ fingers closed around it, and did what he could to help Locus turn it on. At the least he could use the damn thing to prove Locus was still living. That was better than nothing. The blue blade erupted from the hilt. Felix gently laid Locus’ arm down at his side, and took the space left behind.

“Locs.” He whispered to his partner. “Don’t you fucking die you asshole—” He pressed his hands to Locus’ abdomen where the injury was. Tried to put as much pressure on the injury as was possible. 

Not that it was going to be of any use with a wound like Locus’. Not when Locus was bleeding out on both sides because Tucker’s sword had run him through completely. 

_ Fuck. _

“We’re survivors, remember?” Felix said, like that would have been enough to somehow  _ convince _ Locus to live. “We  _ need  _ each other.” His voice cracked with the words. He felt like he was cracking apart.

Locus didn’t say anything. Asshole probably thought that he would manage to live longer if he didn’t talk. Like saving his strength would make a difference when he was dying because he was bleeding out.  _ Fuck _ . 

It was all too familiar. Felix wanted to strip Locus’ helmet off so that he could look at his face, one last time. One last time before his skin went ashen and the life left him. If his partner was going to die, Felix at least owed him the dignity of a death where he wasn’t locked up his armor. He deserved the warmth of the sun on his face. Not the isolated silence of a metal can.

_ Anything _ was better than that.

_ Felix.  _ Krampus dragged Felix’s attention onto him and away from Locus by force. It was the absolute last goddamn thing that he wanted to deal with in that moment. He wanted to be with his partner, not to put up with a fucking demon that wasn’t going to do shit to help him. 

What a fucking waste. 

_ “What?” _ Felix snapped.  _ “I’m fucking busy. _ ” As he spoke one of Locus’ hands lifted up, shaking and unsteady before it came to rest on top of his own. A goodbye. God fucking  _ dammit _ .

_ You can save him. _ Krampus told him, more insistent than ever.

“Bullshit.”

_ You know what you need to do. _

“What?” Felix muttered. “I don’t have a fucking medic. I can’t do shit.”

_ You know what to do. _

_ “ _ I don’t—”

_ It’s the same as what you did with me. _ Krampus hissed to him, an intense unmistakable pressure forming in the back of Felix’s skull.  _ Form a contract with him. _

“I’m not like you!” Felix lamented, doubtful of his ability to help. Locus’ thumbs brushed over the back of his hands. His hands that were soaked with blood. 

His partner’s blood. 

His partner was fucking  _ dying _ and he was arguing with a demon. Fuck.

_ You are,  _ Krampus attempted to reassure him.  _ You know what you need to do in order to save your partner. _

Felix thought back to his first trip to the Temple of Night. He’d used his sword to activate the temple and then—

_ A tongue sliding around his throat. _

All that Krampus had asked him for was his name. For his consent. 

Felix already knew his partner’s name. 

How the hell was that supposed to make any sense?

_ Talk to him. _ Krampus urged him on. 

And goddamn it, Felix hated that he was seriously listening to Krampus’ false hope bullshit. 

Felix swallowed hard and leaned in close to his partner. When he tried to speak— god, why was he so choked up— his voice came out cracked and barely above a whisper. He sounded like he was about to  _ cry _ for fuck’s sake.

“Locus.” Felix whispered to his partner, then chose a second later to correct himself. “ _ Sam _ .”

Locus’ head rolled and Felix made a snap decision. He reached in close and loosened the clasps on Locus’ helmet. Felix listened close for the quiet hissing sound of the interior depressurizing and pulled of the helmet once he heard it stop and he was  _ certain _ that it was safe to remove it. Felix was as gentle and as careful as he could possibly be when he removed his partner’s helm.

Locus’ grey eyes stared up at him, wide and afraid and pained. 

“Sam.” Felix whispered to him. “It wants you to make a contract with me. It thinks that a contract can… save you. It just needs—”

Locus wouldn’t agree. There was no way that Locus would agree, Felix was certain of it. Locus had been fucking pissed about the contract that he’d made with Krampus in the first place. There was no way that he would agree. 

But Felix didn’t know what else to do. 

“It needs you to tell me your name, Sam.” 

Locus stared up at him with those pained familiar grey eyes. His mouth opened slightly, a quiet breath escaping him. His eyes slipped closed and Locus gave him a single weak nod which shouldn’t have made Felix’s heart soar but it did so all the same. 

“Tell me.”

“Samuel.” Locus forced the name through his lips with some great effort. He took another shaky breath like it was what he needed to ground himself. “Ortez.” 

Felix didn’t feel any different. Even after hearing it, Felix didn’t feel shit different. He leaned in closer to Locus, his armored chest pressing up against his partner’s. He just wanted to be close to Sam. Just wanted to see Locus live. 

His skin started to feel hot, the way that it had so many times before. It was the first hint of difference he’d felt since he’d first seen his partner fall. 

His eyes slipped shut in a unique, terrible anguish.

* * *

 

Felix re-opened his eyes and he was alone. 

He was cold. 

It was dark. 

He was alone in the silence. 

In the cold. 

In the dark. 

Alone.

The blackness that surrounded him was familiar, but managed to be just as unsettling as it had been the first time around. The remnants of the battlefield where he’d been just seconds before were gone. It was a void. Like he’d fallen into the center of a black hole, even though that made no sense. 

He was the only one there. He didn’t even know what he was standing on. 

There were no Reds and Blues, laying dead on the ground. There was no Warthog that had been blasted apart, a robot still wound up inside of it with its limbs crunched and melted into the metal. There was no rubble covering everything that he could see. There was no Locus. 

Locus. 

He had to find Locus. 

Felix stood up straight and scanned the area around in him search of his partner as quickly as he could manage. He’d been confused the first time that he’d been in the blackness. Knowing that Locus was somewhere in there with him, though, that changed things. 

He  _ knew _ Locus. 

He knew that Locus was there— dying, alone, probably scared out of his fucking mind. Probably just like the last time that Locus had been left alone in such suffocating darkness. 

Bleeding. 

Dying. 

Afraid. 

Locus hadn’t left that blackness the same, all those years before. Felix had a strong feeling that he wouldn’t leave this blackness the same either. 

The thing that they didn’t talk about though, was that Felix hadn’t left the same either. 

“Locus!” Felix screamed for his partner in the hopes that he’d get a response.  _ Any  _ response. Just  _ something _ to let him know that Locus was there. 

But there was none. Felix chose a direction and broke into a sprint in the hopes that he could find his partner somewhere. If he could just get to wherever Locus was, he would be golden. Al he had to do was find him. 

In the void there were no landmarks though. No sign of anything but himself. 

“Sam!” Felix called again, remembering Krampus’ advice. He’d needed to get Locus’ name to get them there in the first place. Maybe that was it. He needed Locus’ name.

As he ran, his footsteps left absolutely no sounds. Felix shivered for a moment and then he realized something. Remembered something, more accurately. He allowed himself to slow to a stop for just a second before he looked down at himself. 

He was nude again. 

Shit.

Of fucking course he was. 

“Samuel Ortez!” Felix screamed his partner’s full name and turned violently in the place where he was standing. When he turned all the way around, he found Sam. Laying on the ground. 

Silent. 

Bleeding out. 

Hurt. 

Afraid.

Alive, even if just barely. Even if just for a moment. 

“Sam.” Breathed Felix as he drew in close, much quieter and slower than he had been just seconds before. He still felt like he was panicking, but having Locus there changed things. “Hey.”

Locus looked up at him. “Fe—”

Felix dropped into place at Locus’ side. Locus looked up at him, his grey eyes dim. Felix leaned in and put his hands on Locus’ face, gently turning him so that they were looking at each other head-on. Direct eye contact. Felix felt like he just needed it. Any closeness at all was what he needed. And it still wasn’t anywhere near enough. 

“Samuel Ortez.” Felix whispered. “I want you to make a contract with me.” He couldn’t remember whether or not Krampus had used anything resembling a script or not. When he’d been hearing it himself, Felix had been more focused on so much else that had been going on. He hadn’t been even remotely capable of focusing on what Krampus was saying. Not when he’d had the fucker's tongue wrapped around his throat. 

Felix stared down at Locus’ face, bracketed by his bared hands, streaked with orange, with his sharp claws. What a fucking contrast to how soft Locus looked in that moment. How vulnerable. 

“Say yes.” Felix all but begged of his partner. “Say yes, and live. Sam, please—”

Locus’ eyes slipped closed. But he did not move or speak, slow and hesitant as he was. 

“I need you to say it, Sam.”

“I want to make a contract with you.” Locus forced the words out, like he could barely manage the strength to even talk. Let alone do anything else. 

This shit  _ needed  _ to work. 

“Okay.” Felix leaned in and wrapped himself around Locus. He entwined Locus within the spindles of his arms. He knew that he couldn’t even begin to hope that he could hold Locus close enough, but he still felt the need to try to keep Locus as close to him as possible. “Okay.”

It didn’t feel like anything was really changing at all. He did feel Locus’ arms wrap around him though, as weak as his grip was. 

God this couldn’t have been much worse. 

Felix couldn’t help the horrible feeling that nothing was happening. One of his hands ended up resting over Locus’ torso. The tips of his fingers just barely brushed against his bare chest and the dark wiry hair that rested there. Under his palm was the injury that Tucker had left Locus with. One that would leave Locus with a nasty scar under even the best possible circumstances. 

It took a moment too long, but Felix realized that the orange lines that had come to adorn his skin were beginning to change. 

They were glowing. 

No, Felix realized. 

Not glowing. 

_ Burning _ .

Cauterizing a wound.

“Sam.” Felix whispered to his partner, whose face had screwed up in pain. “We’re going to get out of here. We’re going back to the Tartarus. We’re going to patch you up, and you will live. You just have to get through this alive.” 

Locus swallowed and nodded along. If he was in pain, he didn’t do anything to show it. “Isaac?” He gasped out. “How?”

“I don’t know.” Felix answered him truthfully. His skin was warming up bit by bit, to the point where he almost felt warm in the coldness of the void that surrounded the two of them. “But you’re going to make it. All we have to do is…”

What had happened when he’d made a contract with Krampus?

He’d just woken up. Woken up from a nightmare. 

“All we’ve gotta do is wake up.” Felix promised. “That's all. We just have to wake up, and you’ll live.” 

Locus closed his eyes and nodded, his hand gently rested on top of Felix’s own. 

In a way he’d never felt closer to Sam. He leaned in so that his forehead rested against Sam’s own, just above the scar that crossed his partner’s face. That ugly fucking scar. That ugly fucking scar that wasn’t going to be his only ugly fucking scar soon. 

Both of them signs of failure. Both likely to be equally personal, equally hurtful.

Felix’s eyes slipped shut. 

When they opened again, Felix was there with Locus on the battlefield where they had been before. He was there with Locus. A Locus that wasn’t bleeding out anymore. A Locus that was strong enough that he could survive long enough for them to get to safety. 

“C’mon.” Felix said, lacing Sam’s arm over his shoulder. The sword had fallen away from Locus’ body and laid dormant on the ground. Felix scooped it up as he stood. “Let’s get out of here.” 

The two of them dragged themselves to a Warthog that they had arranged to be in place ahead of time. They’d known that they would probably need a backup getaway vehicle when the time came. They were lucky that it hadn’t gotten destroyed somehow. 

Felix helped Sam into the passenger’s seat, and then he drove the two of them to a nearby base where a Pelican was already waiting for them. All it needed was someone that could fly the damn thing. 

They got in and flew back to the Tartarus. 

To safety. 

Felix didn’t realize until much later that they’d actually won.

* * *

 

Among the chaos of the aftermath of fighting off the Reds and Blues, Felix found himself too busy to focus on anything other than last minute cleanups. That meant that checking in with space pirates, confirming and re-confirming death tolls, and keeping in touch with the parties that were scouring the planet for whoever or  _ what _ ever was left. 

For that reason, it took close to two days before the reality of what had happened really managed to sink in for Felix. Not the fact that he was in a reality where he and Locus had  _ won _ . No, it was the fact that he’d made a contract with Locus without knowing what that would ultimately entail. 

It didn’t help that he hadn’t heard a thing from Krampus ever since his and Locus’ contract was made. Almost like the fucker was gone, so Felix couldn’t even go to him for advice. And he’d tried. 

Not once had he gotten an answer. 

Felix didn’t know whether or not demons could die, but it almost felt like Krampus had. Either that or he’d left him when the contract with Locus was made in the first place. 

Felix didn’t know. That was all that there was to it. 

He also hadn’t really gotten a chance to see Locus since the two of them arrived on the Tartarus after the battle with the Reds and Blues. Locus had been almost immediately spirited off to the pitiful excuse that they had for a medical wing. He’d been left in the care of the two remaining medics that they had on-board the Tartarus. Almost immediately Felix had gotten forced out of the medical wing because he would have been ‘in the way.’ 

Which sure, he probably would have been. That didn’t make him feel any less frustrated by the fact that he was forced away from his partner. His partner that had almost died on him. 

So while he’d waited for Locus to be given a clean bill of health, Felix had gone to get reports on how their little extermination effort had gone. 

The confirmations were as follows: all of the Reds and Blues were dead. Two were killed at the initial blast. In the case of Simmons, Locus had killed him with a bullet in the head. The purple one (Doc, Felix thought his name might have been) was killed in the blast when he was apparently trying to usher others to safety— it was almost a damn shame. The major remaining base, exterminated. Kimball had confirmed dead, among many others. Scans of the area found no other survivors. All that was left to be done was final searches and checks of the many known caches, temples, and bases which were scattered across the planet’s surface

That still left Felix with a lot of down time before he could go see Locus. Before he could even  _ consider _ seeing Locus. 

Felix had somehow managed to fill his hours with mundane bullshit before it was late enough that he could go and see Locus. The medics couldn’t fight him out if they weren’t there because they were already in bed. 

Not unsurprinsgly at all, when Felix got to the medical wing, Locus had already snuck out from under their care. And he’d definitely done it for the same reason that Felix had gone to the medical wing when he did for. 

Which meant that Felix knew  _ exactly _ where Locus would be. Armed with such knowledge, Felix crossed the ship as quietly as he could so that he could go to Locus’ room. 

When he got there, the door was already locked from the inside. There was absolutely no chance that he wasn’t in there. 

Felix didn’t hesitate before he knocked on the door and waited. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to say anything. The door opened for him anyways, almost automatically. Like Locus had been expecting for him to show up at some point. Maybe even  _ wanting _ for him to show up. 

Before he went in, Felix just peered inside. 

Locus was laying in his bed, completely out of his armor but with nearly pristine-looking white bandages wound around his torso. Covering a wound. Not a spot of blood on them, which Felix could take comfort in at the very least. It was a relief seeing Locus clean, without any signs of bleeding. Especially after the battle.

Felix let the door close behind him, even made sure to lock it. More for Locus’ sake than his own. “Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” Locus asked. It wasn’t a real question, Felix knew. They were just going through the paces for the moment. Just like they always did.

“It’s been a couple days, so I just wanted to see you.” Felix offered as explanation as he allowed himself to drop into the single chair in the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Not great.” Locus mumbled. “Strange.”

“Pain?” Felix asked. If Locus was in pain, he’d skin those fucking medics alive. The asshole had gotten run through with a  _ fucking energy sword _ . He deserved the good painkillers. The best ones that they had on-board. Even if that meant that they had to come out of the medical suite. 

“It’s…” Locus hesitated, shy. “They gave me something.” He spoke the words at barely above a whisper, embarrassed to admit to needing the pills. Just like always. 

“Good.” God, what were the two of them even supposed to talk about? They couldn’t just fall back on mission talk anymore since the whole thing looked like it was over with. Felix didn’t want to start talking about what was next yet either. It was too early for that shit. And he  _ did _ like the idea of a private island. 

Locus let out a little breath, and carefully gestured for Felix to come closer. Felix brought the chair over to the side of the bed and re-seated himself, close enough that Locus could reach out and touch him if he wanted to. 

The room was silent for a long moment before Locus said anything. 

“What will this contract mean?” Locus asked, genuine concern tinting his voice. “Now that it’s been… established.” 

“I don’t know,” Felix said truthfully. “But you’re here. So… that’s worth it, right?”

“I suppose.” Locus relented. “I just don’t know what to think of it. I didn’t have much of a choice but to take it.” 

And Felix knew that the lack of choice was true. He knew how Locus was. The guy could never allow himself the easy way out. 

“I get that.” Felix shrugged and leaned back in the chair. Things could have been a lot worse, all things considered. Felix didn’t know whether or not he even  _ wanted _ for Locus to chance in the same ways that he had himself. He liked the way that Locus was normally when he bothered to take off the armor. Ruining it seemed like a waste. 

Felix had always liked Locus, even if he didn’t always act like it. Sometimes he had to wonder whether Locus knew that or not, though. 

But he was just so glad to have Locus there, alive and breathing and in one piece. Warm, flesh and blood. No armor. No replaced parts. Just Locus. 

He leaned in and rested his hand on top of Locus’. His partner gave him an almost confused look in response. Felix just let himself lean in close to Locus, even getting partially out of his seat so that he could press his lips to his partner’s. 

He was just so fucking glad that they were both alive. Felix felt like he  _ needed _ to be close to Locus if he was ever going to stay happy. 

Eventually Locus’ brain did catch up with what was happening, and his lips began to move against Felix’s own, languidly. Emboldened, Felix leaned in even closer to Locus to the point where he was nearly up in the bed alongside him. 

God, Felix wanted to fuck him. Or at least do  _ something _ to feel the right kind of closeness. 

But he couldn’t, could he? Not without leaving Locus feeling absolutely drained after the fact. It would probably make it way harder for him to heal in the long run if that happened. Felix didn’t want that. He  _ wanted  _ Locus to be back in working order soon, not bedridden and exhausted, not—

Unless, of course, Felix realized. 

It  _ wouldn’t _ happen that way? 

Locus  _ was _ part of a contract. With  _ him _ . If there was even a  _ chance _ that they could get away with it, Felix wanted to be able to try. If it went south, then it was on him. His dumbass mistake. All he could hope was that Locus didn’t end up paying too dearly for it in the end. 

“Locus.” Felix whispered against his partner’s slack lips. “Please.”

“I don’t know if—” Locus started, pressing back against him eagerly. “This is a good idea.” 

“It’ll be fine.”

“I’m hurt.” Locus offered in a weak protest. They both knew it wasn’t going to hold up. The single thread that was keeping the two of them from getting into it was just a weak resistance on Locus’ part. And even then Locus wasn’t acting like he wasn’t into it. 

But god Felix  _ needed _ him.

He thought about it for just a moment, and then an idea came to mind. He leaned in and crushed his lips against Locus’. Gently he lapped at his partner's bottom lip and was delighted when Locus’ mouth opened for him. 

Their tongues brushed together just barely. Felix didn’t notice any weirdness on Locus’ part until he was being pushed away by the shoulders. When he looked at Locus’ face, he didn’t see repulsion as much as he did sheer, utter befuddlement.

“Locus?” Felix asked, confused. 

Locus was giving him a  _ very _ weird look. Like he might have seen a ghost, or had gone through a nightmare portal. He looked lost and a little bit scared. Not good scared. Not kinda-turned-on scared. Just scared and confused. 

“What?”

“Felix, your…” Locus frowned and he leaned over. Felix watched the way that his jaw tensed. He was putting himself in pain by just leaning over toward him, damn it. But Locus reached out for him. Felix felt Locus’ hand gently wrap around to cup the back of his head and pull him in closer. Felix furrowed his brow in confusion and let himself go along with Locus to get close. 

This was going to be about his teeth again.  _ Fucking great _ . 

“What?”

Locus gently pressed his thumb into Felix’s mouth, and wedged it in toward the back to force his jaw open. Felix decided not to bite or fight Locus on it. He just opened his mouth and couldn’t help the confusion when Locus took in a sharp inhale of breath. 

Without saying anything else, Locus released him. 

“Your tongue.” Locus said, almost reluctantly.

Felix cocked his head to the side and leaned in. “My  _ tongue? _ ” Felix asked. “What about my tongue?” His tongue didn’t  _ feel  _ different. Not anymore than any other part of his mouth did, at least. Felix began to open his mouth himself. He stared down at his nose as he stuck his tongue out and saw that it was split at the end. 

And that was  _ definitely _ new. 

“Huh.” Felix leaned back for a second and made himself a little bit more comfortable, even if only for a moment. 

It was kind of a mood killer, really. 

But also it was something that Felix could work with. 

He looked up at Locus and everything fell into place in his mind. There  _ was  _ something that he could do with his partner that wasn’t too strenuous. Something he could do and even  _ utilize _ his new change with. As weird as that change was.

Comfortable, familiar heat pooled in the pit of his belly. 

“Locs,” Felix placed a hand on his partner’s chest and gently pressed him backward so that Locus was lying down. “I’ve got an idea.” 

Locus gave him a weird look, clearly the type that came when his brain still hadn’t figured out just what was happening. God, Felix hated that he might  _ actually  _ have to spell this one out to his partner. Normally that wasn’t the case. 

But it was also possible that Locus had lost a lot of blood when he’d gotten stabbed. Maybe that would have fucked things up. 

“What?” Locus deadpanned, fairly unimpressed.

“I’ve got an idea.” Felix repeated, this time grinning and sticking out his tongue for good measure. When Locus once again didn’t seem to get it Felix’s expression flattened into the correct level of unimpressed. He rolled his eyes and brought a closed fist up near his face. 

And for the first time in fucking  _ years _ , Felix pantomimed a blowjob. 

It was fucking  _ sad  _ that that would be the thing that made Locus actually finally figure it out. 

Almost perfectly on cue, Locus’ cheeks darkened in the usual sort of embarrassment that he’d feel. Felix decided to stay back and give Locus the room to make a decision for himself. He was definitely down to suck Locus' dick, but if Locus wasn’t interested for whatever reason (and god, the asshole would probably  _ invent _ a fucking reason), then he wouldn’t push. Locus was the one that had gotten stabbed that day, after all. 

Actually, come to think of it, Locus had gotten pretty banged up in the last week. First Washington stabs him and then Tucker. Christ, guy  _ deserved _ to get his dick sucked after all of that bullshit. Not to mention the shit that Felix had unintentionally piled on him. And then intentionally piled on him. 

“C’mon Sam,” Felix said, prompted by the realization. His volume dropped significantly in volume. “It'll be fun. Besides, you’ve earned it.” 

Locus let out a quiet breath and nodded, almost shy about it. Felix pressed his way in closer to his partner. 

“Yes?”

“Yes.” Locus breathed out, still nervous but clearly at least a little bit less hesitant than he had been before. 

Heat continued to pool in Felix’s belly. He pressed himself in close to Locus for yet another searing kiss. He cupped Locus’ cheek, keeping him as close as Felix could manage just for the moment. The closeness was something that he fucking  _ needed. _

This was going to be good. 

Felix allowed himself to linger up by Locus’ lips as he slipped his hand down south to slide under the band of Locus’ sweats. 

Locus was already half hard. That was certainly something that he could work with. Felix wrapped his hand around Locus’ cock and began to stroke, slow and gentle. A small gasp escaped Locus’ lips at the feeling of it. 

“Yeah.” Felix whispered. “Just relax Locs. Enjoy this, you’ve earned it.” He gave himself a chance to glance up at Locus’ face. He was relaxed, pale grey eyes slipped shut, expression slack. 

Good. That was about as good as it was probably going to get. 

Felix kissed Locus a final time before he let the kisses trail from the corner of Locus’ lips toward his neck and then down, down, down. He made sure to pull back away from Locus as he got closer and closer to the bandaging that was wrapped around Locus’ body. Hitting the injury would be the single best way to completely kill the mood. 

Felix wasn’t willing to risk that. 

“Locs.” Felix mumbled against Locus’ skin, pointedly snapping the band of his pants against Locus’ skin. Asshole was smart, he would definitely be able to figure out what Felix was trying to tell him. 

The message was received though, definitely loudly and clearly. Locus strained to lift his hips up enough so that Felix could slide his pants and underwear off. Felix hooked his fingers into the garments and pulled them down, far enough that they were pooled around Locus’ ankles. With them that far down, Locus carefully removed them the rest of the way, kicking them off. 

Locus stared down at him with those pale grey eyes again, pupils blown wide and dark. He carefully parted his thighs, like he was obeying some order that had never been given out loud. Felix’s breath caught in his throat at the sight. 

Locus was making room. 

Locus was making room  _ for him. _

It was the single best invitation that Felix had ever gotten out of Locus. Probably the best he would  _ ever _ get, too. That wasn’t something that he could just go ignoring. He had to take it. If he didn’t he was sure to fucking regret it, and soon. Probably for every day of the rest of his life, in truth.

Felix slipped into the space that had just been created for him between Locus’ thighs and made himself comfortable. With his arms bracketed on both sides of Locus’ hips, he stared up at Locus. 

His partner was flushed, his cock hard and dark. Locus was watching him with those eyes, that familiar comforting grey which had gone dark under half-lidded eyes. His hair was even loose and mussed. 

The guy probably hadn’t gotten a chance for a shower or anything of the sort since he’d gotten back to the Tartarus. Locus had been hauled in for medical treatment as soon as they’d landed. Maybe at best he’d gotten a sponge bath, or rather, he would have scared the two medics away from giving him a sponge bath. 

Once he was feeling up to it, Felix was going to set Locus up for a proper bath. A nice long soak, and they could have expensive wine and fucking enjoy themselves for once. 

That would be so nice. So fucking nice. Nice enough that Felix could feel himself getting impatient at the thought of it. 

Felix leaned in and closed his hand around the base of Locus’ cock. He held it up and leaned in to finally lap at the head of Locus’ cock where pre-cum had already begun to bead. 

Immediately, Locus let out a little gasp at the sensation created by Felix’s newly-split tongue. The sound was absolute heaven to Felix’s ears. The best fucking thing. The absolute fucking best. 

Felix pressed an open palm to pin Locus’ hips down onto the bed so that Locus couldn’t buck up into his mouth. On one hand, he was pretty sure that Locus was into being pinned down. On the other, Felix had sharp teeth that he needed to watch because the last thing he wanted to do was leave Locus with fucking scrapes all over his cock. He couldn’t risk it if they were both supposed to enjoy this shit. 

He locked his eyes with Locus’ when he opened his mouth and took the head of Locus' cock into his mouth. There was yet another little sound that escaped Locus, this one tiny and choked off like Locus was afraid of being heard. 

He was so quiet normally, Felix thought. To get those noises out of Locus was always such a huge goddamn treat. To the point where he  _ vowed _ to himself that his goal in sucking Locus off was going to be get as many of those noises out of Locus as possible. That would be his fucking reward for all of the war. For every thing that had happened on Chorus, and even for some things that had happened before. 

Up until Felix wanted to get off himself. When that happened, he’d have to figure shit out from scratch, probably. 

Felix figured that would be a little way off though. He had to focus on Locus first. Locus had earned it. Locus  _ deserved _ it. 

Absentmindedly, Locus’ fingers found their way to his wrist and gently wrapped around it, like Locus was desperate for some sort of physical connection in that moment between the two of them that wasn’t focused on his cock. Felix got the message, wormed his hand out of Locus’ grip, and then re-attached himself by lacing his fingers with Locus’ own. 

There was no protest from Locus, so he must have done well enough to satisfy him. 

Felix hollowed his cheeks and sucked at Locus’ cock, carefully bobbing his head to ensure that he wouldn’t risk getting Locus with his teeth. Felix tapped the pinky finger on his free hand against Locus’ hip to give a sort of order.  _ Stay down. _ Locus squeezed his hand in answer, a little too unrestrained in how hard he squeezed. A little breath escaped Locus’ lips. 

Emboldened, Felix pulled off just enough so that he could lap against the head of Locus' cock. The split end of his tongue partially separated against Locus’ cock, giving him a split of the sensation on both sides. 

Felix let his eyes flick up so that he could get a view of Locus' face. The guy already looked like he was  _ absolutely fucking gone.  _ Most days, Felix would have probably made fun of him for it. 

But it wasn’t right. Not then, not there, not under those circumstances. 

This was a fucking  _ reward. _ Nothing else. Nothing more. 

Felix allowed himself to just relax into the scenario. He allowed his eyes to slip shut, for himself to let the feel of his partner’s cool skin against his own. It was the best fucking feeling being that close to Locus. 

As he sank down on Locus’ cock once more, Felix tightened his grip on Locus' hand, hard enough that his nails began to cut into his partner’s skin. There was no attempt on Locus’ part to pull away from him, to avoid the hurt. He just took it, and based on a noise that got stuck in Locus’ throat, he  _ enjoyed  _ it.

“Felix—” Locus gasped as Felix teased at the head of his cock once more. Guy was probably getting desperate, if Felix had to guess. 

If that was the case, Felix fully intended on giving Locus what he wanted. 

He grinned up at Locus and lapped at the head of Locus’ cock one last time before taking Locus into his mouth and finally giving Locus just enough room so that he could move his hips should he so choose. Based on past experiences, Felix knew that he would choose to do so. 

Freed, an interesting little sigh escaped Locus’ lips. Felix sucked harder and bobbed his head quickly as Locus’ hips twitched up into his movements in tiny thrusts. Locus was almost definitely as afraid of Felix’s teeth as Felix was, and that was a comfort in some strange way. 

Not that Felix could really blame Locus for being afraid. He wouldn’t have wanted his teeth near his dick either. 

Felix just made sure to make sure to give Locus the rom to thrust away, as weak as those thrusts were with Locus being injured where and how he was. 

He didn’t bother to count them as Locus pumped away. A small noise escaped Locus’ throat, and that was nearly choked back completely. Like Locus was afraid of it being heard. 

The sound was familiar though. Familiar enough that Felix made sure to swallow as the first pulse of cum hit his tongue. He stayed in close, let Locus finish himself off and enjoy what he was getting. This was about Locus. Doing anything for himself would fucking ruin it, and Felix  _ knew _ that. 

Once he was sure Locus was done, Felix pulled away just enough so that his partner’s softening dick wasn’t in his mouth anymore. He leaned back in though to lap at him, cleaning his partner's cum away. He knew that Locus would want to bathe, but that probably wouldn’t be possible for at least a little bit. 

Locus’ breathing was still hard when Felix sat up to rest beside him. He stared down at his partner’s expression and couldn’t help the wave of contentment that he felt at the sight of Locus’ relaxed expression. Not just that, but Locus looked fond of him. Like he was the only thing that mattered. Like he was the only thing that had ever mattered. 

If he weren’t hard himself, he probably would have laid down next to Locus for a sorely-needed nap. Felix did make himself comfortable, but not for a nap. Not yet. 

“Fuck, you’re perfect.” Felix mumbled as he wrapped his hand around his cock. “Soon I’m going to get you on a good fucking planet. Some nice fucking hotel, with hot water—”

Locus was watching him, intrigued, enchanted, adoring. 

Fucking  _ his. _

_ That’s what Locus is, _ Felix thought as he came.  _ He’s mine. _

And Felix knew it was true, in more ways than one. 

Locus was  _ his _ .

He always had been. 


	13. You Can Call Me The Employee of The Decade, Or The Employee From Hell. It's Really Your Choice.

Nearly a month had passed since Locus and Felix’s last stand off against the Reds and Blues.

The month that had followed the battle had been busy at first, even if they weren’t constantly going back down to Chorus for war. For Felix, it had been busy at least. Locus had needed some extra recovery time to get back to normal, so a lot of his time was just spent on the Tartarus trying to heal. Apparently that was one of the issues with getting run through entirely. It didn’t just heal overnight. The whole arrangement had Locus sufficiently pissy since it only took about a day of being bedridden to get him antsy. But he’d managed, as irritated as he was.

Felix however, had been in constant contact with the men that they had down on Chorus, all doing what he could to be absolutely certain that they’d finished the job. There was no room for error, no room for them to have failed once more.

But the reports were consistent.

All of the Reds and Blues were indeed accounted for. Vanessa Kimball had been confirmed dead, found among the wreckage of Crash Site Bravo. The other more frustrating people on Chorus like the Reds and Blues’ lieutenants and Doctor Grey were also gone. Anyone else had been systematically removed from the equation.

It was a surprisingly large comfort when the number of killings being reported daily had dwindled down to nothing as the body count only rose and rose. Finding bodies instead of making bodies was a much better deal overall.

And goddamn, if _that_ hadn’t been nice to be able to report to Hargrove. Hell, it was probably the one time that Felix had been able to call him and not spend the entire time on the call with Hargrove chewing him and Locus out for some bullshit or another. Not that he was looking for Hargrove’s _praise_ or some shit, just not hearing the bitching was nice. Even if it was only coming late in the job.

Hargrove made the two of them one promise in that call. They could leave Chorus’ atmosphere on board the Staff of Charon since Hargrove wanted to make a showing in person. The two of them had done their jobs, after all. They had payment to discuss. After that, there was going to be a Condor stocked and ready for them to take to whatever corner of the universe they wanted.

Felix was _definitely_ more than okay with the idea of leaving. After the first week of silence from Chorus, the wait for the in-person meeting with Hargrove had more or less become a small vacation. He and Locus never had to leave the Tartarus. Felix had let himself relax. Locus had healed.

The Staff of Charon landed at the Temple of Communication on a Thursday, as had been previously discussed.

Locus and Felix waited for the ship’s arrival on the highest platform that the Temple had to offer. Felix was a little bit nervous, mostly because he knew that he couldn’t pass for a normal person anymore. That had gone out the window a month ago. If Locus was nervous, he didn’t do anything to betray it. He just stood there by the edge of the Temple, still and silent as a statue.

Locus stood alone. Felix stood behind a pillar with an earpiece in so that the two of them could talk and fill the dead air. It didn’t do anything to cure his unease.

The Staff of Charon pulled into place and hovered beside the Temple with a roar of its engines. Felix couldn’t hear shit, but when he let himself peek out from behind the pillar, he watched as its entrance opened up and a walkway lowered down just in front of Locus. There was nobody there waiting for them. Locus began to approach the ship and looked back at Felix over his shoulder. Felix nodded to give Locus the little bit of permission that he needed. Satisfied, Locus began to board the ship. Felix sprinted in after him. Locus took the lead, Felix sure to put enough space behind him that he wasn’t as likely to get noticed.

If it wasn’t for the fucking horns he could have gotten by just fine. He could have put on his helmet and done what Locus did. But no, the horns were still there to be a colossal pain in his ass.

Ever since the contract had been created, Locus hadn’t changed _at all._ Felix had a theory that it had to do with a distinct lack of bloodshed at Locus’ hands since the contract had been made in the first place. Being unable to do anything for a full month tended to do that. If there _had_ been any changes, Felix was sure they were strictly internal. Maybe an amped up libido. And Locus was eating less of those shitty fucking rations in general, not that Felix was sure _that_ had anything to do with the contract.

But Locus could still fit in among humanity, at least as well as Locus was capable of. Which still wasn’t much. Guy had come out of the womb socially awkward as far as Felix was concerned.

“What do you think?” Felix asked Locus, allowing himself to catch up just a bit. “We’re about to be on our way out of this shithole.”

“If the meeting with Hargrove goes well.” Locus amended for him, gravely. “Which I have my doubts on.”

The quiet insult didn’t need to be spoken. They’d been arguing over the meeting for _days_. Mostly about how Felix needed to be able to keep his mouth shut. Felix thought that was dumb since he was going to end up needing to carry the conversation anyways.

“You know, I’m loving the vote of confidence, Locs. I really do.” Felix replied as he fell into step at Locus’ side. “It’ll be fine. The asshole should be happy that we finished the job for him. I mean, it’s been a long time coming. Not due to failure on our part, of course. Just heaps of mind-numbingly stupid rainbow colored complications.”

Locus didn’t respond to him, but Felix saw the way that Locus’ head turned just slightly. Locus was eyeing one of the guards, probably grimacing behind his helmet as he sized them up. Felix felt his stomach drop at the realization of what Locus was probably thinking.

All that it would take to make Hargrove’s men turn and shoot them was a single word. Neither of them wanted for any of that shit to happen. Felix still couldn’t wear a helmet (he’d _tried_ filing the horns down, but it had ended up too painful to go on with.) Locus was still not quite back at 100% as far as fighting went.

So yeah, things weren’t looking _amazing_ if Hargrove decided he wanted them dead instead of paying them.

And considering just how much Hargrove loved his sleazy business practices, Felix was realizing that was becoming more and more likely.

A guard approached the two of them, cautious. “You’re here to meet Hargrove?”

“Yeah.” Felix said with a shrug, stepping to the front so that he could at least spare Locus the social interaction. “We’ve got a couple of paychecks to pick up, then we're out of here.”

The guard looked between the two of them, visibly unnerved. “So you’re the mercs we’re here to get, right?”

“Yes.” Locus replied. Calm and controlled. Gritting his teeth behind his helmet.

The guard nodded and pressed two fingers to the earpiece that he was wearing as he reported their arrival. Felix and Locus stood by patiently until they were being escorted straight to Hargrove’s office for an in-person meeting. Their first _ever_ in-person meeting. Even being hired had been done through proxies and indirect means.

Neither of them said a word to each other. Neither of them were likely to say a word until they were spoken to directly. A rare case of long years of military training finally kicking in when it was supposed to for once.

Hopefully it would be enough to save their asses, Felix thought.

“Gentlemen.” Hargrove greeted them from behind his pristine, clean desk. “How nice of the two of you to finally have succeeded at securing my property.”

Felix couldn’t help the way that his expression twisted into one of open contempt. And he couldn’t even hide behind his helmet when it happened. _Fucking great_.

Hargrove looked between the two of them. “I suppose you two are here for your payment. But before that can happen—” Hargrove’s grey-blue eyes remained glued to Felix, almost like Locus wasn’t even there. “I do have some questions I would _greatly_ appreciate answers to.”

“Of course.” Felix grumbled, feeling almost like he was being kept late for class by a particularly vindictive math teacher. Or being put in detention.

“What has kept the two of you from finishing your work for so long?” Hargrove stood up, his hands laying flat on the desk as he leaned over it menacingly. “Because it seems to me that the two of you have been wasting my time _and_ my money. And as time is money, I’m sure you can see why I’m frustrated that you’ve been wasting both.” Hargrove fixed his eyes on Felix, evaluating.

“We met multiple complications.” Locus spoke up, thankfully before Felix would be able to say anything about it. “Removing them as threats required extra time.”

“That does not explain the state that the two of you have come to me in, Locus.” Hargrove still didn’t look away from Felix, not even for a second. Felix _seriously_ hoped that Locus would teach him why that was a mistake. “Because I will say that I am quite fascinated by this development I’m seeing.”

“Yeah.” Felix snarled at the chairman. “ _Fuck no_ .” He was pretty sure he knew what the asshole was thinking. He had no intention of letting Hargrove get whatever it was that he wanted. And Felix was _pretty_ sure he knew what Hargrove wanted.

Hargrove frowned. “At least explain, then.” He asked, allowing himself to take his seat once more. “Because it may be of interest to my investors.”

There were no seats in the room for either of them, Felix realized. Hargrove didn’t want them getting comfortable. Either that or he wanted less of a cleanup later.

Felix eyed Locus as he tried to figure out what his partner thought of the suggestion. He was pleasantly surprised by the way that Locus’ helmet tilted upward, in the dangerous way that Locus would try to make himself bigger when he felt the need to take the upper hand in a more verbal conflict. Puffing himself up, like a bird or an angry cat that had just gotten cornered.

Locus was _pissed._

Felix knew then and there that a line had just been drawn. If Hargrove tried to cross it, he was going to have a hell of a lot of hell to pay for it.

And that was _good._

Felix hummed noncommittally. “You know, Hargrove, I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t matter. You don’t have a sword to activate it, and I’m pretty sure that what made me _like this_ was a one time only thing anyways.” It wasn’t a very good answer, really. Felix was at least sure that it wouldn’t be able to hold up. But what he needed to be able to do was stall, not convince. He needed to stall at least long enough to come up with some sort of plan.

“In that case, I’m sure that you can see why this information would be of interest.” Hargrove’s eyebrows lifted and fell as he spoke. “With what you have become—” He eyed Felix appraisingly, in a way that made Felix feel like he was just a piece of meat in the Charon CEO’s eyes. “Charon Industries could pioneer the creation of a whole new breed of super soldier. One which outmatches the work of Project Freelancer and the late Doctor Church by far.”

And _god,_ as much as being compared to the fucking Freelancers pissed Felix the fuck off, it didn’t compare to the way that the the implication behind Hargrove’s suggestion made his skin crawl.

Because it was obvious, so fucking obvious. Obvious enough that even socially inept, often oblivious _Locus_ had managed to pick up on it, based on the slight shift to how he was holding himself. There was no question about it. If Locus was already starting to get defensive, they needed to be ready for a fight. Especially when there was no question that Hargrove had security a button push away.

“Yeah, I think I’ll just take my payment.” Felix replied. He nearly had to force the guise of relaxation into his stance and voice. “Not gonna like, I’m thinking about retiring. After years of your bullshit on Chorus, I’m pretty sure that I’ve earned it.”

“Felix—” Locus grumbled under his breath, warning.

Hargrove’s expression flattened. He reached for something behind his desk and Felix heard and audible _thud_ behind them as the doors barred themselves. So the asshole wasn’t going to be taking no for an answer, then. _Fucking great_.

“Oh come on!” Felix shouted, blood boiling. “We’re done! We just want to go now. Just _pay us_ and we’re out of your hair forever!”

Hargrove stood up straight, “I do believe you misunderstand, Felix.” he said, taking the time to try and intimidate him and Locus both. If it was working on Locus, there was no obvious sign that he was buckling. “You are still under my employment, my _Control_ , until I give you your payment. And I am refusing to do since your performance in the field has been less than satisfactory. I was promised _perfection_ and I have gotten significantly less.”

“What?” Felix hissed. “Fuck no, we did the job. _No refunds_ , remember?”

“Locus.” Hargrove’s gaze drifted over to Felix’s partner. “Seize him.”

Locus didn’t budge. He also said absolutely nothing.

Hargrove looked absolutely _enraged_ . “ _Locus,_ ” He growled, like he thought that he hadn’t been heard. “I was under the impression that you never disobey an order.”

Locus still said nothing. He still refused to move.

Felix knew that he was safe from Locus. That much he could be certain of.

“ _Locus!”_

“No.” Locus firmly responded, steady and sure of himself. Perhaps more sure of himself than he’d been in months.

“This behavior is _very_ unbecoming of you, Locus.”

“Yeah, you see,” Felix decided to interject as he took a step forward so that he was in front of his partner. In a weird way, he almost began to relax. “Even Locus here can see that what you’re doing is bullshit. You see, Locs has never really been interested in people that abuse the chain of command.” For just a moment, Felix considered grabbing for the sword attached to the magstrip on his thigh. Maybe that would have been enough to prove his point. And if it didn’t work, then all he had to do was run the asshole through and through. After that, he and Locus could go.

Locus stood up, tall with his head held high as he stared down at Hargrove. Almost confident. “We would prefer it if you paid us and let us go.”

Hargrove seemed to grit his teeth in his fairly well-restrained anger. “Then it would appear that I will have to take you for research by force, Felix.”

Felix saw him beginning to reach behind the desk once more, probably to summon guards to show up there and kill him and Locus so that they couldn’t be a problem anymore. _No,_ Felix corrected himself mentally. They would kill Locus, and he would be taken as a prisoner to be Hargrove’s new science project.

 _Fuck that shit_.

Felix reached for the sword hilt at his thigh, tore it away from the magnet that was holding it in place and flicked it to life in one smooth motion. It cracked to life, still bright red from the battle a month before.

“Locs!”

He didn’t have to ask twice, because he rarely ever did. Locus leaped at Hargrove and knocked the asshole away from the desk to slam him into the wall behind it with a loud crash. Hargrove put up a struggle, but Felix had his doubts that Hargrove could have ever fought off a fully armored soldier even when he was in his prime. As things were, Hargrove was untrained, decrepit, weak and soft. Probably about to die in a few years anyways. Or he would, if he hadn’t just made the mistake that he just had.

After threatening to refuse payment, Felix wasn’t exactly inclined to let the asshole live. Locus turned himself and Hargrove, all but presenting Hargrove’s throat to be slit. Like he was offering it to Felix as a gift, in a way. A thoughtful gift.

“Nice try, Hargrove.” Felix muttered at his former employer. “You see, we’re _done._ And you are really fucking with shit that you don’t understand.” He grinned at Hargrove, taking care to ensure that the sharp points of his teeth were bared. “So consider this to be your last chance. You pay us, and _maybe_ I’ll consider letting you live. How’s that sound, _Control?”_

Hargrove looked straight at him, abject horror written clear across his face. Which was really about what Felix would have expected any damn way. God, this shit was dull.

“So, what'll it be?” Felix asked, bringing the point of his sword in close to Hargrove’s throat. “Last chance to choose. I’d try to choose wisely if I were you.”

“ _Felix_ .” Hargrove said, panicked. “You realize that if you kill me, you won’t receive _any_ of your remaining payment.”

And god fucking dammit, the asshole had him there.

“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Felix said, deactivating the sword even though he still wanted to bisect Hargrove’s lungs. “Now, tell me where you put our paychecks.”

“In my desk.” Hargrove instructed him, his eyes on Felix the entire time. “In the top drawer.”

Felix still eyed Hargrove suspiciously, even as he approached the desk. “You know, we’ve always preferred anonymous transfers to specified accounts a lot more. Always leaves less of a paper trail to be followed. Don’t think there's anything you can do to help us out here? Would really suck for all of us to go down over a paperwork error.”

“What?” Hargrove seemed confused.

“ _Come on.”_ Felix tore the top drawer of the desk open. Loose pens rolled around inside. “You know you aren’t really in a position to negotiate here. I know for a fact that Locs there is _very_ good at snapping necks. I mean, we could just kill you. It isn’t like you wouldn’t deserve it.” Felix began to rifle through the desk. He was pretty sure that he knew what he was looking for. “I’m thinking I might even ask for a raise while we’re at it, what do you think, Hargrove? Has our performance here been convincing enough?”

Locus shot him a look which mostly said that they were dragging things out too far. Guy was probably worried about Hargrove’s private security fighting out what was happening and charging in to kill the two of them.

Which, granted, _was_ a legitimate concern. Felix would give Locus the credit there. Asshole had a point.

Hargrove, however, gave Felix a look of a betrayal. “You can’t be serious.” He protested. “This is _madness.”_

_And there it was._

Locus slammed Hargrove against the wall, violently.

The reason wasn’t a mystery for Felix. It was pretty damn obvious, really.

Asshole had used the M word. And Locs hadn’t liked it.

Hargrove had just lost a lot of his chances of getting out of the meeting alive with that.

Felix gave Locus a look, one that was just meant to be enough to dissuade Locus from doing any more. Unsurprisingly, Locus did back off at least a little. But he still held Hargrove against the wall, sure to give the man absolutely no give so that he could move.

“Yeah, you see, Hargrove.” Felix said as he plucked a data chip out from the desk. He turned it over in his fingers in search of any sort of labels. “You’re the one that decided to be difficult with this. You _could_ have just paid us when we came through the door, but you _chose_ not to. You can’t blame the two of us for being upset.”

Hargrove grit his teeth and Felix watched him. The Charon CEO almost seemed to slump against the wall behind him in resignation. “Let me go and I will see to it that the two of you are paid threefold.”

And _that_ was just what Felix wanted to hear.

He nodded at Locus. With the signal taken, Locus dropped Hargrove and took a half-step away, his hand hovering over his own sword at his thigh.

Hargrove caught himself against the wall, pushed himself upright and approached Felix and the desk. Felix made no move to give him space. If he wanted to be able to do this shit himself, Hargrove had to accept that Locus and Felix had absolutely zero reason to trust him. Felix sure as shit didn’t intend on giving him a chance to get anywhere near comfortable.

The CEO sank down into his seat and pressed a button on top of the desk. A monitor and keyboard rose out from it and Felix felt the smug satisfaction at the realization that he was getting what he wanted.

“I believe the original agreed upon sum was 1 billion credits.” Felix said, leaning against the desk and making himself comfortable. “Each.”

Hargrove sneered. “It was.”

“And you’re going to be tripling it.” Felix said, cocking his head to the side slightly. “Each. In addition to our usual yearly salaries. I think that's a reasonable request.”

Hargrove let out a resigned noise and pulled up what looked like a financial document. Felix watched him remove a pair of reading glasses from his desk as he began to scroll down slowly, taking his time. Felix said nothing, but made sure not to put the hilt of his sword down. He couldn’t risk Hargrove getting too comfortable.

“I will need _time_ to decide where to take the money from.”

“And I would have thought that you had an entire budget for mercenaries.” Felix said, rolling his eyes. “You know, call it something like R&D. I mean, that's what we were, right? Research? Or would _acquisitions_ be more accurate?”  

“Having an entirely separate department would be too noticeable.” Hargrove muttered as he began to shift the numbers in some of the columns. “Now if you could let me focus—”

“Mm, nah.” Felix looked over Hargrove’s head at Locus instead. “Was there anything special you wanted? Other than a way out of here?”

Locus shook his head to the contrary, which actually kind of a surprise considering that Agent Maine’s armor was still technically theirs for the taking. Probably no use for it when they were retiring anyways.

“You’re no fun.” Felix protested. “I was hoping that you’d make this even more fun for me.”

Locus didn’t respond, but Felix was about ninety percent certain that he was rolling his eyes behind his helmet. Probably annoyed that they were still in Hargrove’s office. Probably annoyed that Felix was having so much fun with the old man.

Hargrove looked up at him. “You said you prefer specified accounts?”

“That I did.” Felix said. “Set up the wire transfer.”

Without much extra protest, Hargrove obeyed, bringing up a screen that he needed. He took the moment to type in some account information, as well as the sum that had been agreed upon. Hargrove read it over and re-read it before he passed the keyboard over to Felix. “Do your part.”

Felix typed in the usual account number he and Locus used for this shit, and smirked as he carefully ticked up the amount of money being transferred by a couple dozen extra trillions. Before Hargrove could make any protest, Felix was hitting send and he could take comfort in knowing that he was indeed getting his paycheck, and then some.

He was about to get up and give Hargrove space again when a call came in over Hargrove’s desk.

All three of the men in the room froze.

Felix’s eyes narrowed and he nodded at Hargrove. _“Answer it._ ” If he didn’t, Locus would take care of him, Felix was sure of that.

Hargrove obeyed and the sound of a woman’s voice came over the line. “MIster Hargrove, there’s a new anomaly in the Research—”

“It’s fine.” Hargrove said as Felix leveled a pistol on him. “I had to make a few creative accounting decisions to ensure that a new development is able to be paid for. Do not be concerned. I personally approved the change.”

“But _sir,”_ The woman protested, “We needed that money for—”

“Thank you, Melissa.” Hargrove hung up the call and looked between Locus and Felix, clearly enraged but resigned. “The Condor that we agreed upon is waiting for both of you in the vehicle bay. I would prefer it if the two of you left _now_. You’ve gotten your payment.”

“Yeah.” Felix shrugged. “We have.”

He turned on Hargrove, just as he began out. “But I think that we need to be sure you won’t pull any shit on us. I’m sure you can understand. Locs, keep watch while I take care of this guy.”

Locus didn’t need to be told twice. He went straight to the door that they had used to come in. If there was something that he was planning to do, Locus didn’t make it obvious. All he did was remove the shotgun that he had strapped to his back, and waited.

Felix let out a little sigh and looked down at Hargrove. “You know,” He mumbled, keeping his eyes on the man’s hands as they rested at the desk. Security was just a button press away, and there was nothing to keep Hargrove from reneging on their deal. “I could say that it’s nothing personal.” Felix said with a shrug, turning slowly toward the CEO. “But you really are some sorry fuck if you think we’re aren’t leaving with an insurance policy in place.”

“ _Make it quick,”_ Locus growled from the door.

That made Felix roll his eyes in some annoyance. He drew in close to Hargrove. “Thanks for the work, Hargrove. I’m not going to need a reference, seeing as I’m retiring in about… let's say fifteen minutes.” Felix flicked the sword out to its full length and smiled a sharp toothed grin as it cracked to life. “So I wish I could say that it was nice knowing you, but I’ve been told that I’m not a very good liar.”

“What are you—”

Felix lunged in toward Hargrove, the point of his sword aimed directly at the old bastard’s throat. Hargrove wasn’t anywhere near fast enough, or strong enough to fight him off. Felix just sank the blade in, watched the blood well, and let it slide in as far as he felt. The energy sword cut through Hargrove like butter, severing muscles and tendons, bisecting bone all the same.

When he pulled away, Hargrove’s head fell from his shoulders and landed on the desk with a _thud._ His reading glasses clattered to the ground and fell somewhere under the desk.

Well that wasn’t very good.

“Felix.” Locus warned.

Felix thought fast, picked up the head and set it down on Hargrove’s desk, facing the door like he was waiting for someone to come through it. Trying to re-attach it to the dead asshole’s body was definitely a losing battle. They were on a timeline, after all.

The sword went out as Felix tucked it onto his thigh once more. “You lead the way.” He instructed. “And you’re driving.”

“Understood.” Locus said. “Make it quick.”

Felix put himself at Locus’ back and followed him out of the room as quickly as possible, taking extra care to close the door behind him so that the mess that had been left behind couldn’t be seen without someone actually going in. Neither of them said a word to each other as they followed the signs until they were in the vehicle bay.

Sure enough, waiting for the two of them with the engines already warm was a Condor. Sweet relief rushed through Felix at the realization that it was over. Locus led the way and boarded first, with Felix coming in after him and closing the loading door behind him with the push of a button. As soon as the door was closed, Felix felt the cabin pressurize around him.

Locus settled at the cockpit and began to prepare for flight.

Felix slumped into the co-pilot’s seat beside him. “So,” he sighed. “What now? We’re done with Chorus, we're rich beyond our wildest dreams, and I can’t go out in public anymore.”

Locus didn’t answer at first. Felix grinned, falling into an old routine that they hadn’t been able to take part in in a very long time. “I’m thinking we could go to the Vegas Quadrant.” Felix offered. “Gamble our riches away.”

He got an unamused grunt out of Locus. “We aren’t going to the Vegas Quadrant.”

“Fine, pizza.”

“No.”

“Burgers?”

“No.”

“A five star hotel with room service and very soft beds?”

That suggestion gave Locus pause. “Fine.”

“And when we’re there I’m shopping for a private island. What was that water world we were on a couple years ago, Terrapin?” Felix asked, pretty sure that he knew Locus’ answer already. “How many bedrooms do we want in our mansion? I’m thinking twenty.”

“We will never need twenty bedrooms.”

Felix scoffed. “Twenty more beds to get—”

“ _Felix_.” Locus protested, removing his helmet. He looked bone tired. “We should focus on getting out of here first.”

And yeah, Felix hated to admit it, but the asshole had a point.

“I’m just saying.” Felix said as Locus began to pull them away from the Staff of Charon’s vehicle bay. “We’re _done._ And if we want twenty beds, we can have twenty beds.”

“Felix.” Locus said, a slight smile on his face. “I think we should start with resting.”

“Yeah,” Felix sighed, relaxing back into the seat. “Resting sounds pretty fucking nice.”

It was the truth. Nothing else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that's followed along with this ride. It's definitely probably the weirdest one I've ever written.


End file.
